BOLSHEVISM/ 

PAUL  MILIUKOV  LLD. 


BOLSHEVISM 

AN   INTERNATIONAL   DANGER 


BOLSHEVISM  :  AN 
INTERNATIONAL 

DANGER  ITS  DOCTRINE 
AND  ITS  PRACTICE  THROUGH 
WAR  AND  REVOLUTION 


PAUL    MILIUKOV,    LL.D. 

Author  of  "  Russia  and  its  Crisis  " 


NEW   YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

597-599   FIFTH   AVENUE 

1920 


First  published  in  1920 


(All  rights  reserved) 


PREFACE 

SOME  time  ago  people  who  tried  to  prove  to  European 
public  opinion  that  Russian  Bolshevism  was  an  im- 
minent danger  to  the  whole  of  the  world's  civiliza- 
tion invariably  met  with  the  ready  objection,  that 
Bolshevism  belonged  entirely  and  exclusively  to  Russia, 
and  that  it  was  no  concern  of  any  other  country. 
Since  then  reflection  and  experience  have  taught 
people  better,  and  we  now  often  find  that  the  word 
"  Bolshevism  "  is  applied  to  purely  European  pheno- 
mena which  have  little  to  do  with  Russian  Bolshevism. 
The  truth  is  that  Bolshevism  has  two  aspects.  One 
is  international  ;  the  other  is  genuinely  Russian. 
The  international  aspect  of  Bolshevism  is  due  to  its 
origin  in  a  very  advanced  European  theory.  Its 
purely  Russian  aspect  is  chiefly  concerned  with  its 
practice,  which  is  deeply  rooted  in  Russian  reality 
and,  far  from  breaking  with  the  "  ancient  regime," 
reasserts  Russia's  past  in  the  present.  As  geological 
upheavals  bring  the  lower  strata  of  the  earth  to  the 
surface  as  evidence  of  the  early  ages  of  our  planet, 
so  Russian  Bolshevism,  by  discarding  the  thin  upper 
social  layer,  has  laid  bare  the  uncultured  and  un- 
organized substratum  of  Russian  historical  life.  That 
is  why  Mr.  Lenin  may  be  considered  both  as  a  sup- 
porter of  the  Revolutionary  Syndicalism  of  Georges 


6    BOLSHEVISM:   AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Sorel,  so  far  as  his  international  face  is  concerned,  and 
as  an  inheritor  of  the  old  tradition  of  the  Russian 
Pugachevs,  Razins,  and  Bolotnikovs — the  great  social 
rebels  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 

My  object  in  this  book  is  to  study  the  international 
aspect  of  Bolshevism.  A  few  months  ago  I  planned 
a  larger  book,  in  which  this  subject  was  to  enter  as 
a  first  chapter,  to  be  closely  followed  by  the  study  of 
Russian  Bolshevism  from  within,  i.e.  in  its  national 
aspect.  Three  more  chapters  were  to  be  devoted 
to  the  study  of  anti-Bolshevist  Russia,  of  the  Russian 
borderlands,  and  of  the  relations  between  dismembered 
Russia  and  her  former  Allies.  But  now  I  see  that 
it  will  take  much  more  time  and  space  than  I  expected 
to  cover  the  whole  ground.  The  first  chapter  has 
grown  into  a  small  book,  while  I  was  writing  it,  and 
I  decided  to  publish  it  separately.  The  international 
aspect  of  Bolshevism  has  been,  up  to  now,  far  less  often 
treated  as  a  whole  than  its  purely  Russian  internal 
aspect.  That  is  why  this  little  work  may  fill  a  gap 
in  the  literature  on  Bolshevism  until  the  appearance 
of  a  better  and  more  elaborate  exposition. 

It  also  proved  not  so  difficult  and  inconvenient  as 
it  might  seem  to  detach  the  international  side  of  Bol- 
shevism from  the  Russian.  In  the  first  place,  so  far 
as  its  theory  is  concerned,  Bolshevism  is  not  Russian, 
but  European,  and  international.  This  may  not  be  uni- 
versally known,  and  the  first  part  of  the  book  is  written 
in  order  to  trace  Bolshevism  to  its  European  source. 

Secondly,  the  Russian  practice  of  Bolshevism  did 
not  enrich  the  European  theory  with  any  valuable 
positive  data.  Mr.  Lenin's  renowned  "  Decrees,"  as 
applied  to  Russian  reality,  were  nothing  but  "  scraps 


PREFACE  7 

of  paper,"  and  the  purely  political  triumph  of  Bol- 
shevism in  Russia  is  no  proof  that  its  social  teachings 
can  be  applied  at  all.  The  apparent  progress  of  Bol- 
shevism can  be  only  explained  by  the  extraordinary 
favourable  conditions  created,  first  by  war,  and  then 
by  the  Revolution.  But  these  conditions  are  common 
to  Russia  with  all  European  countries.  That  is  why 
in  the  second  part  of  the  book  Russia  is  treated  only 
as  a  particularly  favourable  background  for  the  inter- 
national development  of  Bolshevism.  I  trace  this 
development  through  five  consecutive  stages.  After 
a  few  unsuccessful  attempts  to  graft  the  new  Bolshevist 
start  on  the  former  (the  "  Second ")  International 
Social-Democratic  organization,  the  initiators  of  revo- 
lutionary communism  try  to  find  for  it  a  new  form, 
corresponding  to  their  new  doctrine.  This  is  the 
"  Third  Internationale."  After  these  first  two  stages 
of  ideological  incubation — extremely  favoured,  how- 
ever, by  war  conditions  and  by  German  war  tactics 
— the  Russian  Revolution  is  the  third  stage  of  the 
Bolshevist  progress,  representing  the  first  embodiment 
of  the  theory.  I  have  had  to  explain  just  how 
and  why  an  economically  backward  country  has 
become  a  Promised  Land  of  Revolutionary  Socialism. 
I  have  found  the  explanation  both  in  historical 
and  national  conditions,  and  in  the  uncertain  and 
wavering  attitude  of  Moderate  Socialism,  which  is 
not  a  Russian,  but  an  international  feature.  The 
next — the  fourth — stage  is  that  of  the  inverted  action 
of  Russian  Bolshevism  on  the  European  Internation- 
alism. It  first  takes  the  form  of  an  international 
mission  of  the  Russian  Revolution  to  finish  the  war 
by  a  "  Democratic  peace."  This  mission  is  accepted 


8    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

by  the  Allied  national  Socialism  on  the  condition  of 
a  decisive  move  of  the  Russian  armies  for  final  victory. 
At  that  stage  the  influence  of  the  Russian  Extremism 
is  entirely  dependent  on  the  success  of  the  Russian 
offensive  of  1917.  The  offensive  fails,  and  the  Russian 
Soviet's  scheme  for  an  International  Conference  at 
Stockholm  is  simply  shelved.  The  fifth  stage  is  that 
of  the  Russian  military  collapse  accompanied  by  the 
growing  success  of  the  Bolshevist  propaganda  in  Ger- 
many. The  Bolshevist  Soviet's  rule  reveals  itself 
on  that  occasion,  not  as  an  efficient  experiment  in 
Socialism,  but  as  it  really  is — a  huge  and  powerful 
machine  for  the  propaganda  of  the  World  Revolution. 
From  the  height  of  his  Kremlin  seat  of  power  Lenin 
now  convokes  the  Third  Internationale,  as  a  prelimin- 
ary measure  to  the  conquest  of  the  world.  National 
Socialism  replies  by  convoking  the  Congress  at  Berne 
of  the  "  Second "  Internationale.  But  the  minutes 
of  this  Congress,  with  its  uncertain  psychology  and 
wavering  logic,  clearly  witness  to  the  causes  of  the 
growing  international  danger  of  Bolshevist  propaganda. 
Part  III  of  the  book  undertakes  to  show  what  really 
has  been  done  by  Bolshevist  propaganda  to  prepare 
the  so-much-hoped-for  World  Revolution.  People  who 
are  inclined  to  underrate  the  Bolshevist  danger,  or 
those  who  obstinately  pretend  that  no  reliable  informa- 
tion is  available  on  the  subject,  will  be  startled  by  the 
little  selection  of  the  first-hand  evidence  which  even 
at  present  is  sufficiently  abundant — not  only  to  prove 
the  general  trend  of  the  Bolshevist  Internationalist 
activity,  but  also  to  draw  a  more  or  less  detailed  picture 
of  the  methods  and  results  of  this  activity.  Attempts 
to  revolutionize  Germany  and  Austro-Hungary,  and 


PREFACE  9 

thus  to  take  possession  of  "  the  first  link  in  the  chain  " 
of  the  World  Revolution,  are  here  related  in  the  first 
place.  Then  follows  a  review  of  the  Bolshevist  pro- 
paganda in  neutral  countries — their  first  stepping-stone 
to  the  World's  Revolution.  A  short  account  of  the 
Bolshevist  connections  and  deeds  in  the  Allied  countries, 
in  the  colonies,  and  all  the  world  over,  completes  the 
picture.  Detached  features  and  facts  of  that  general 
outline  are,  of  course,  much  better  known  at  the  places 
to  which  they  refer.  This  or  that  particular  detail 
may  prove  incorrect  or  untrue.  New  disclosures  may 
throw  much  better  light  on  the  secret  springs  behind 
events.  But  all  this  can  hardly  alter  the  chief  features 
of  the  picture  drawn,  or  change  its  general  meaning. 
At  any  rate,  the  first  attempt  to  collect  and  co-ordinate 
the  matter  more  or  less  known  to  every  newspaper 
reader,  and  thus  to  corroborate  the  concordant 
evidence  by  showing  its  place  in  the  whole,  seemed 
to  me  worth  trying,  owing  to  the  great  importance  of 
the  subject  and  to  the  political  necessity  of  drawing 
practical  inferences  in  good  time  to  prevent  the  worst. 
My  personal  views  of  Bolshevism  are  sufficiently 
clear,  and  need  not  be  emphasized  any  further.  But 
I  trust  that  the  impartial  reader  will  find  my  exposition 
of  facts  unbiassed  and  unprejudiced  by  any  personal 
view.  The  partisans  of  Bolshevism  will  hardly  find 
the  work  done  by  their  heroes  minimized  by  me.  But 
I  also  hope  that  their  enemies  will  not  find  that  I  have 
purposely  exaggerated  the  Bolshevist  danger  by  paying 
too  much  attention  to  it.  The  best  way  to  win  the 
game  is  not  to  represent  one's  adversary  as  being  too 
stupid,  or  too  dishonest  and  selfish,  or  too  weak  and 
careless.  I  prefer  to  see  my  enemy  at  his  best  in  order 


10    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

the  better  to  understand   and   the  better   to   defeat 
him. 

One  of  the  features  of  this  book,  which  may  provoke 
criticism,  is  my  exposure  of  the  part  unconsciously 
or  pusillanimously  played  in  the  temporary  success 
of  Bolshevism  by  their  party  opponents,  the  Moderate 
Socialists.  I  bear  no  grudge  against  such  of  them  who 
really  preserved  their  faith  which  they  have  in  common 
with  the  Bolshevists.  But  such  as  understand  that 
false  inferences  drawn  by  Bolshevism  are  to  a  great  ex- 
tent due,  not  to  the  lack  of  logic,  but  to  false  premisses, 
which  are  to  be  reconsidered — and  I  think  that  they 
are  the  great  majority — well,  such  people  show  the 
lack  of  moral  courage  and  of  mental  sincerity,  when, 
in  their  discussions  with  the  Bolsheviks,  they  admit 
the  obviously  inadmissible  starting-points,  and  shift  the 
argument  to  the  ground  where  they  are  easily  beaten 
by  the  Bolshevists'  outward  consistency  and  unswerving 
logic.  As  long  as  this  confusion  of  thought  remains 
unchanged,  their  influence  on  the  popular  mind  will 
be  lost,  and  they  will  be  doomed  to  fight  demagogy 
with  another  demagogy  less  convincing  and  less  emo- 
tional. While  weakening  themselves,  they  also  weaken 
their  natural  allies  among  the  Democratic  and  Radical 
parties,  and  they  leave  the  decision  with  two  political 
extremes  :  aimless  Revolution  and  baseless  Reaction. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE    5 

PART   I 
THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  OF  BOLSHEVISM  .    19-48 

1.  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  BOLSHEVIST  DOCTRINE  (1905-1914).     .   19-33 

Utopian  and  "  scientific "  elements  in  Marxism  (19-20). 
Lenin's  negative  attitude  towards  immediate  Socialist  Revolu- 
tion in  1905  (20-21).  The  Revolution  of  1905  gives  a  push 
to  Socialistic  Utopianism  (21-22).  A  new  start  in  France,  by 
Georges  Sorel  (22).  From  "  fatalism  "  of  the  "  scientific  " 
Marxism  to  the  proletarian  "  freedom  "  (23).  "  Class  " 
versus  "  party  "  (24).  "  Proletarian  violence  "  versus  Social 
Peace  (25).  "  International  Revolution  "  versus  Nation  and 
State  (26-27).  "  Economic  Organization  "  versus  "  Politi- 
cal Society "  (27-28).  New  step  forward  by  Lenin  (28). 
The  political  role  of  the  "  conscious  minority  "  (29-30).  Syn- 
thesis of  Syndicalism  and  Bolshevism  :  "  government  by 
minority"  (30) ;  Direct  action  versus  Democracy  (31).  The 
weakness  of  Moderate  Socialism  and  patched-up  resolutions 
of  1904-1912  (31-33)- 

2.  THE   PROMOTERS  OF  THE   INTERNATIONALIST    DOCTRINE   IN 

THE  WORLD  WAR 33-48 

The  chance  of  National  and  International  currents  in  Social- 
ism (33-34).  Inconsistency  of  doctrine  with  tactics  of 
"  National  Defence  "  (34-35).  Three  fallacies  shared  by 
National  Socialists.  "  War  unavoidable  under  Capitalism  " 
(35).  "  Every  Capitalist  State  Imperialistic "  (36).  The 
wrong  use  of  "  self-determination  "  principle  (37).  Inter- 
nationalists' scheme  for  a  new  offensive  (the  "  Third  Inter- 
national ")  (38-39).  Germany's  use  of  Internationalist 
slogans  (39-41).  Internationalists  gain  by  being  employed 
as  "  agents  "  of  trouble  (41-42).  The  role  of  German  Social 
Democracy  (42-43).  The  "  secret  diplomatists  "  of  Inter- 
nationalism (43).  Parvus — a  typical  "  agent "  (43-45). 
M.  Parvus'  ring  (45-48). 

11 


12    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

PART    II 

PAGE 

THE     PROGRESS     OF     BOLSHEVISM     THROUGH     WAR 

AND    REVOLUTION  (1914-1919) 49-127 

The  five  stages  of  progress  (49-51). 

1.  THE    ATTEMPTS   TO   USE  THE     "  SECOND     INTERNATIONAL  " 

(1914-1915) 51-53 

Attempts  to  convoke  International  Socialists  to  discuss 
peace  conditions  (51-52).  A  new  start  in  Berne  for  the 
International  "  proletarian  class  war  "  (52).  The  passage  to 
the  second  stage  (53). 

2.  DOCTRINE    OF     THE     "  THIRD    INTERNATIONAL  "     (ZIMMER- 

WALD-KlENTHAL)   AND  ITS  SPREAD  IN   igi6        .        .        .          53~63 

The  composition  of  the  Zimmerwald  Congress  (53-54).  The 
Extremist  doctrine  formulated  (55-56).  Formal  call  to 
mutiny  waived  (56-57).  More  outspoken  language  used 
by  the  International  Socialist  Commission  in  Berne, 
and  by  the  Kienthal  Conference  (57).  The  success  of 
Revolutionary  Socialism  in  Germany  (58-59).  Zimmerwald- 
ism  in  France  (59-62).  Zimmerwaldism  in  Great  Britain 
under  the  cover  of  "  Pacifism  "  (62-63). 

3.  THE    FIRST    VICTORY    OF    INTERNATIONAL   EXTREMISM — IN 

THE   RUSSIAN    REVOLUTION    (1917) 63-83 

The  two  Revolutions  :  the  National  and  the  Defeatist — in 
March  and  November,  1917  (63).  Why  Russia  proved 
particularly  receptive  to  the  Extremist  propaganda  (63-64). 
Lenin's  view  on  Russia's  unpreparedness  for  Socialism  (65). 
Preparedness  for  practical  Anarchism  and  "  Class  War  "  ; 
lack  of  conscious  Nationalism  (65-66).  War  weariness  and 
desertion  (66).  The  war — popular  in  its  initial  stage 
(66-67).  Zimmerwaldism  in  Russia  (67-68).  The  Tsar's 
blindness  and  the  Duma's  failure  to  enforce  moderate 
concessions  (68).  Revolution — unavoidable  and  uncon- 
trollable (68-69).  The  Duma's  part  in  maintaining  the 
"  sacred  national  unity  "  for  the  first  two  months  of  Revolu- 
tion (69-70).  The  part  of  the  "  Soviet  "  and  the  Extremist 
anti-war  propaganda  (70-72).  M.  Goldenberg  s  crude 
alternative  :  Kail  the  Army  (and  the  War),  or  Kill  the  (Ex- 
tremist) Revolution  ?  (72-73).  The  Soviet's  new  start  in 
foreign  politics  (73-74).  Ambiguous  attitude  of  Allied 
Socialists  (74-75).  Allied  Socialist  Ministers'  failure  to 
treat  with  the  Soviet  (75-76).  Their  unconscious  help  to 
Extremist  tendencies  (76-77).  Albert  Thomas's  effort  to 
bring  about  the  "  coalition  "  Government  under  Kerensky's 


CONTENTS  18 

PAGE 

guidance,  conditional  upon  the  army's  new  offensive  (77-78). 
My  personal  attitude  (78-79).  A.  Henderson's  share  in  the 
Russian  Revolution's  failure  (79).  Russia  ripe  for  Bol- 
shevism (79-80).  Moderate  Socialists'  loss  of  popularity 
(80-82).  Lenin's  demagogy  (82-83).  Pure  Zimmerwaldism 
wins  the  game  (83). 

4.  INFLUENCE    OF   THE    RUSSIAN    REVOLUTION    ON    EUROPEAN 

INTERNATIONALISM,  1917 83-99 

The  failure  of  the  Russian  offensive  makes  the  attitude  of 
the  Allied  Moderate  Socialists  untenable  (83-84).  The 
chances  of  the  "  Democratic  Peace  "  tested  by  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  scheme  for  convoking  the  International  Socialist  Con- 
gress at  Stockholm  (84-85).  German  and  neutral  Socialists' 
part  in  the  scheme  (85-86).  The  Soviet's  attempt  under  the 
Extremists'  guidance  to  intercept  the  initiative  (87-89). 
The  "  Third  International "  Conference,  or  the  General 
Conference  in  Stockholm  ?  (89-90).  The  Allied  Socialists' 
conditional  consent  (90-91).  The  Russian  delegation  to 
Stockholm  in  London  and  Paris  (91-92).  The  Russian 
retreat  of  July,  its  explanation  by  General  Denikin  (92-93). 
The  change  of  attitude  toward  the  Russian  delegation 
(93-94).  The  Stockholm  Conference  shelved  (94-96).  The 
recrudescence  of  "  militarism  "  in  Berlin  and  Paris  (96-99). 

5.  THE  BOLSHEVIST  COLLAPSE  IN  WAR  AND  TRIUMPH  IN  PROPA- 
GANDA, 1917-1919      99-127 

No  illusions  as  to  the  immediate  results  (99-100).  "  Direct 
action  " — aim  by  itself  (100-101).  Tactics  of  reckless  bluff 
(101).  Negotiations — a  means  of  propaganda  (101-102). 
Trotsky's  astonishment  at  German  realistic  "  impudence  " 
(103).  Confident  appeal  to  the  "  peoples  "  (103-104).  Cre- 
dulity as  to  the  success  of  the  coming  Revolution  in  Germany 
(105-106).  "  Neither  peace  nor  war  "  tactics  (106).  Bol- 
shevist pamphlets  in  German  trenches  (107-108).  The  Soviet 
rule  as  a  means  of  propaganda  of  a  general  conflagration 
(108-109).  Germany's  apparent  success  (109-110).  The  pro- 
gress of  Bolshevist  propaganda  in  Germany  (110-112).  The 
German  collapse  (112).  "  The  universal  Revolution  in  sight ' ' 
(112-113).  "Soviets"  or  "The  League  of  Nations": 
Lenin  or  Wilson  ?  (113-114).  The  "  Holy  Alliance,"  or 
....  the  Prinkipo  proposal  ?  (114-115).  Prinkipo  to  be 
used  for  propaganda  (115-116).  Lenin's  "  sound  strategy  " 
to  postpone  operations  until  the  moral  disintegration  of  the 
enemy  (117).  Lenin's  invitation  to  the  First  Congress 
of  the  Thinl  International  (118-119).  A  review  of  the  Bol- 
shevist parties  in  the  world  (119-120).  Their  programme 
(120-121).  The  Congress  of  the  Second  International  at 


14    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

PAGE 

Berne  on  February  3-8,  1919  (121).  Hjalmar  Branting's 
resolution  (121-123).  Concessions  to  Bolshevism  in  other 
drafts  of  Resolutions  (123-124).  The  pro-Bolshevist  opposi- 
tion at  the  Congress  (124-125).  The  vote  pro  and  contra 
Bran  ting  (125).  The  International  danger  of  Bolshevism 
increased  by  that  vacillation  (125-127). 


PART    III 

BOLSHEVISM  OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION 

(1918 ) 128-294 

The  existence  of  an  organized  conspiracy  for  a  World  Revolu- 
tion  (128-131). 

1.  THE  "  FIRST  LINK  IN  THE  CHAIN  " — GERMANY  AND  CENTRAL 

EUROPE 131-147 

M.  Joffe's  propaganda  in  Berlin  (131-134).  M.  Joffe's 
legacy  (134).  Bolshevik's  alliance  with  Liebknecht 
against  Scheidemann,  as  represented  by  Radek's  mission 
(134-138).  Their  part  in  the  January  rising  (138-139).  Pre- 
paration for  the  Third  Revolution  (139-140).  The  Bol- 
sheviks on  the  Rhine  (140-141),  and  in  other  provinces 
of  Germany  (141).  The  part  played  by  Bolsheviks  in 
the  March  rising  in  Berlin  (141-143).  The  Bolsheviks  in 
Munich  (143-144).  The  part  played  by  Russian  prisoners 
(145).  The  Bolsheviks'  failure  in  Germany  (146-147). 

2.  THE   BOLSHEVIST   SCHEME   FOR   FEEDING  AND  CONQUERING 

GERMANY 147-159 

The  grain  fund  for  the  World  Revolution  (147-148).  The  Red 
Army  (148-149).  The  scheme  for  the  Revolutionary  spring 
offensive  (149-150).  Preparations  in  East  Prussia  (150-151). 
Germans  help  Bolsheviks  in  occupied  provinces  of  Russia 
(151-152).  The  tactics  of  the  German  Government  (153- 
155).  Negotiations  with  the  Ukraine  (155).  Bolshevist 
propaganda  in  Poland  (155-156).  Bolsheviks  and  German 
public  opinion  (156-158).  The  wavering  policy  of  the  Allies 
and  the  part  played  by  Kolchak  and  Denikin's  offensive 
in  the  failure  of  the  Bolshevist  spring  military  action  (158-159). 

3.  THE  BOLSHEVIKS  IN  HUNGARY  AND  IN  GERMAN  AUSTRIA   .   160-177 

A  Revolution  backed  by  national  feeling  (159-160).  The 
influence  of  the,Belgrade  Armistice  and  of  the  Peace  Confer- 
ence Policy  (160-162)  Count  Karolyi  in  touch  with  the 


CONTENTS  15 

PAGE 

Bolsheviks  (162-163).  The  false  Red  Cross  Delegates 
and  the  Hungarian  prisoners  of  war  (164-165).  The  Bol- 
shevist bloodless  victory  in  Budapest  (165-166).  Wireless 
communications  with  Lenin  (166-167).  The  Treaty  between 
Bela  Kun  and  Lenin  (168-169).  Self-confidence  enhanced 
by  General  Smuts'  mission  (169).  Hungarian  Bolsheviks' 
counter-proposals  (169-170).  A  start  for  the  World  Revolu- 
tion (170-171).  The  moment  of  despondency  (171-172). 
Bolshevism  in  the  Austro-German  Republic  (172-173).  Riot- 
ing in  Vienna  (173-174).  A  temporary  success  in  Slovakia 
(175).  Lenin's  reliance  on  his  methods  (176).  Forged 
banknotes  (177). 

4.  THE  BOLSHEVIST  PROPAGANDA  IN  NEUTRAL  COUNTRIES      .   178-189 

The  meeting  of  the  Third  International  on  March  2-5,  1919, 
in  Moscow  (178-179).  A  Socialist  mission  to  Russia  (179- 
180).  The  Moscow  Conference — an  answer  to  it  (180-181). 
Bolshevist  preparation  for  world  propaganda  (181-182). 
Neutral  countries — the  first  stepping-stone  (182-183). 
The  Russian  Bolshevist  mission  in  Switzerland  (183-184). 
Mr.  Vorovsky's  activity  in  Sweden  (184-186).  Bolsheviks 
in  Norway  (186).  In  Denmark  (187).  In  Holland  (187-188). 
The  part  played  by  Russian  Red  Cross  institutions  in  Bol- 
shevist propaganda  (188-189). 

5.  BOLSHEVIST      CONNECTIONS    AND     AIMS     IN     THE     ALLIED 

COUNTRIES 189-243 

The  Russian  aim  of  the  Bolshevist  propaganda  :  "  Hands- 
off  Russia  "  (189-191).  The  German  aim  :  mitigating  the 
Peace  Treaty  conditions  (191-192).  A  larger  circle  of  propa- 
ganda (192-193).  Two  measures  of  judgment  (193-194). 
The  narrower  circle  of  properly  Bolshevist  organized  action 
(194).  The  Revolutionary  Great  Britain  (194-195).  Bol- 
shevist pamphlets  and  manifestoes  reach  England  (195-197). 
British  Socialist  organizations  endorse  "  Communism " 
(197-200).  The  self-confident  stage  of  the  movement  (200- 
202).  "  Direct  (industrial)  Action  "  versus  "  Parliamentary 
(political)  Action  "  (202-204).  Mr.  A.  Henderson's  com- 
promise (204-206).  The  more  consistent  attitude  of  the  pro- 
Bolsheviks  (206).  Bolshevist  influences  in  the  British 
industrial  unrest  (206-207).  The  Glasgow  agitators  (207-208). 
Programmes  of  the  Clyde  Workers'  Committee  and  the  Sparta- 
cist  Union  compared  (208-212).  Appeals  to  violence  (212- 
213).  The  Parliamentary  Committee's  opposition  to  Ex- 
tremism (213-214).  Labour  leaders'  wavering  attitude  (214- 
215).  The  "  Triple  Alliance "  at  work  (215-216).  The 
Southport  resolutions  (216-219).  The  Trade  Unions'  Con- 
gress at  Glasgow  (219-221).  Vorvi&rts  on  the  results  of  the 


16    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

PAGE 

British  Extremist  movement  (221-222).  Bolshevism  in 
France  (222).  The  elements  of  difference  from  Eng- 
land (222-223).  The  elements  of  similarity  (223-224). 
Albert  Thomas  and  Bolshevism  (224-225).  France  and 
Internationalism  (226-227).  The  Lucerne  Congress  (227- 
229).  Extremism  victorious  (229).  The  International 
strike  of  July  21  (229-231).  The  failure  explained  by 
Jouhaux  (231-233).  The  Syndicalist  Congress  at  Lyon 
(233-235).  Extremist  elements  in  the  Syndicalist  resolu- 
tion (235-237).  Bolshevism  in  Italy  checked  by  National- 
ism (237-238).  Attempts  at  strikes  defeated  (238-240).  The 
November  General  Elections  in  France,  Belgium,  and  Italy 
(240-243). 

6.  THE  BOLSHEVIST  PROPAGANDA  OUTSIDE  EUROPE.        .     .  243-294 

The  Bolshevist  propaganda  in  Non-European  languages 
(243-244).  The  Bolshevist  propaganda  in  Ireland  (244-245). 
Connections  with  Germany  and  with  the  British  Extremists 
(245-247).  The  "  Soviets  "  for  Ireland  (247).  Govern- 
ment's action  (247-248).  The  Extremist  propaganda  in 
India  (248-249).  German  connections  (249).  Bolshe- 
vist agents  in  India  (250).  A  correspondence  between 
Petrograd  and  Delhi  (250-251).  Road  to  India  kept  open 
(252).  Who  is  "professor"  Baranatulla  ?  (253).  Nego- 
tiations with  Afghanistan  (253-255).  Preparations  for 
the  last  refuge  of  Bolshevism  in  China  or  in  Turkestan 
(255-258).  Extremist  influences  in  the  Egyptian  unrest 
(259-260).  The  Bolsheviks  in  South  Africa  (260-261). 
In  Australia  (261-262).  Bolshevist  "  literature "  for 
America  (263).  Bolshevist  "  aliens  "  in  Canada  (263- 
265).  Resolutions  of  the  Calgary  Conference  (265-266). 
Attempts  at  general  strikes  in  Winnipeg,  Toronto, 
etc.  (266-268).  Opposition  of  soldiers  and  citizens  (268). 
Strong  action  by  the  Government  (268-269).  Bol- 
shevism in  the  United  States  (269).  Pro-German  and 
Pacifist  propaganda  before  the  war  (269-270).  Revolu- 
tionary Socialism  victorious  at  the  St.  Louis  Convention 
(270-271).  The  part  of  aliens  (271-272).  Trotsky's  per- 
sonal influence  (272-273).  American  "  commissaries  " 
sail  for  Russia  (273).  Their  part  in  Bolshevist  adminis- 
tration (273-275).  Raymond  Robins'  Bolshevist  secretary 
(275-276).  Robins  favours  the  "  World  Revolution  "  :  his 
excuse  (276).  Ambassador  Francis,  Colonel  Thompson, 
Captain  Sadoul  influenced  by  Robins  (277-278).  President 
Wilson's  message  to  the  Bolshevist  Congress  and  the  "  slap 
in  the  face  "  (278).  Bolshevist  agitators  sail  for  America: 
Gumberg,  Reinstein,  John  Reed,  Albert  Rhys  Williams  (279- 
281).  The  success  of  the  Bolshevist  propaganda  (281-282). 
Co-operation  with  Anarchists  :  the  bomb  plots  (282-283). 


CONTENTS  17 


Connections  with  I.W.W.  (283).  "  I.W.W.'s "  pro- 
gramme of  Revolution  (283-285).  Revolutionary  elements 
in  the  Labour  movement  (285).  America's  peculiarity 
(286).  Failure  of  the  Industrial  Conference  makes 
trade-unionism  join  the  National  Strike  movement  (286— 
287).  The  miners'  strike  as  differentiated  from  the  steel 
strike  (287-288).  The  Government's  firm  stand  (288-289). 
Raid  on  Extremist  organizations  and  disclosures  on  the 
"  Union  of  Russian  Workers  "  (289-290).  The  Russian 
manifesto  planning  a  Bolshevist  Revolution  (290-291). 
Measures  against  the  aliens  (291).  Deadlock  in  negotia- 
tions with  Labour  (292).  National  Socialism,  trade- 
unionism  (293).  Farmers  as  anti-Bolshevist  agents  (293- 
294)- 

CONCLUSION. 

Lenin's  prophesies  (295).  Will  the  Russian  Revolu- 
tion fail  ?  (295-296).  Will  the  "  World  Revolution " 
succeed  ?  (296).  International  danger  of  Bolshevism 
diminishing  ;  its  catchwords  still  alive  (296-297).  "  Non- 
intervention "  movement  consistently  Bolshevistic  (297-298). 


EPILOGUE. 

A  new  wave  of  Bolshevism  in  Europe  as  a  result  of  changed 
policy  toward  Russia  (299-300).  The  Third  International 
meets  in  Amsterdam  (300-301).  The  Strassburg  Con- 
ference's attempt  at  a  reconstruction  on  a  larger  basis 
(302).  Last  symptoms  (303). 


PART    I 


i.  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  BOLSHEVIST  DOCTRINE 
(1905-1914). 

IT  is  a  moot  question  whether  Bolshevism  and  its 
European  counterpart,  "  Revolutionary  Syndicalism," 
can  be  called  Socialism  at  all.  Mr.  Lenin,  in  his  very 
first  speech  after  returning  to  Revolutionary  Russia 
through  Germany  in  the  famous  "  sealed  railway 
carriage  "  (April  1917),  exhorted  his  followers  to  throw 
away  Socialism  as  "  dirty  linen,"  and  to  unfold  the 
banner  of  "  Communism." 

It  comes  practically  to  the  same  thing  when  Georges 
Sorel  classifies  his  "  Revolutionary  "  Syndicalism,  not 
as  a  breach  with  Marxian  Socialism,  but  rather  as  a 
return  to  the  true,  the  initial  reading  of  Karl  :Marx's 
doctrine.  The  distinction  between  "  Revolutionary  " 
and  "  Reformist  "  Socialism  exists  in  Marxism  itself, 
and  it  develops  into  a  patent  contradiction  in  its  history. 
While  the  Marxism  of  1848  is  predominantly  Revolu- 
tionary and  Utopian,  its  application  to  the  Parlia- 
mentary life  of  German  Social  Democracy  is  essentially 
reformist  and  scientific.  Marx's  followers  had  to  choose 
between  the  Utopian  "  Communist  Manifesto  "  of  1847 

19 


20    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

and  the  Reformist  "  Erfurt  Programme  "  of  1891, 
between  Karl  Marx  and  Ferdinand  Lassalle.1 

The  majority  of  the  party  at  the  Hanover  Congress 
of  1899  chose  the  reformist  reading,  and  thus  the  largest 
Socialist  party  of  the  world,  under  a  constitutional 
regime,  although  a  very  imperfect  one,  took  the  line 
of  peaceful  Parliamentary  work  for  social  reform, 
while  relegating  "  social  revolution "  to  some 
obscure  future,  as  nothing  but  its  final  goal,  there- 
by renouncing  the  Revolutionary  tactics  of  a  direct 
"  class  war." 

Russian  Social  Democracy,  confined  under  Tsarism 
to  a  few  conspirative  circles  of  intellectuals  and  some 
intelligent  workmen,  and  led  by  political  refugees 
from  abroad,  could  not  possibly  go  that  way.  Party 
leaders  had  no  choice  between  Parliamentary  work — 
there  being  no  Parliament  under  the  Autocracy — and 
social  revolution,  which  they  thought  Russia  was  not 
ripe  for.  Unwillingly  they  had  to  accept  the  especi- 
ally Russian  watchword  of  "  political  revolution,"  as  a 
preliminary  and  unavoidable  condition  to  any  further 
social  struggle.  Lenin  himself,  at  the  time  of  the  first 
Russian  Revolution  in  1905,  had  written  the  following 
lines  in  a  leaflet  entitled  Two  Tactics :  "  The  low 
degree  of  economic  development  in  Russia,  as  well  as 
the  low  degree  of  the  conscious  class  organization  of 
the  workman,  i.e.  both  objective  and  subjective  agents, 
do  not  permit  in  any  way  of  an  immediate  and  complete 
liberation  of  the  working  class.  One  must  be  quite 

1  The  practical  proposals  of  the  "  Erfurt  Programme," 
which  are  not  revolutionary  but  reformist,  were  first  formulated 
in  the  "  Chemnitz/'  "  Eisenach,"  and  "  Gotha  "  programmes 
in  1866,  1869,  and  1875,  chiefly  under  the  influence  of  the 
followers  of  Ferdinand  Lassalle. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  21 

ignorant  in  order  not  to  see  that  the  democratic  over- 
throw which  is  being  achieved  under  our  eyes  presents 
a  bourgeois  character.  One  must  possess  a  most 
naive  optimism  in  order  to  forget  just  how  little  the 
working  masses  are  informed  as  to  the  aims  and  methods 
of  Socialism.  Therefore,  so  long  as  the  working  class 
lacks  a  conscious  organization,  so  long  as  it  does  not 
possess  the  necessary  education  to  carry  on  the  class 
struggle  against  the  bourgeoisie,  there  can  be  no  question 
about  a  socialist  revolution." 

In  full  contradiction  to  this  remarkable  statement, 
now  so  completely  forgotten,  that  very  Revolution  of 
1905  gave  a  strong  push  to  Socialistic  Utopianism. 
The  "  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat,"  organized  into 
"  Soviets,"  had  already  been  tried  in  the  autumn  of 
1905  by  the  same  leaders,  Parvus  and  Trotsky,  who 
repeated  the  experiment,  under  better  conditions, 
in  1917.  They  were  responsible  for  the  failure  of  the 
first  Revolution,  which  collapsed  as  soon  as  "  class 
war "  and  "  social  revolution  "  were  substituted  for 
political  and  bourgeois  revolution,  the  only  possibly 
types  according  even  to  the  view  of  Lenin.  That 
the  autocracy  has  not  surrendered  since  1905,  and  that 
a  kind  of  sham  constitutionalism  existed  between  1905 
and  1917,  thus  paving  the  way  for  the  second  Revolu- 
tion, we  owe  to  the  Bolsheviks  of  1905.  They  bore 
that  name  even  then.  It  means  "  those  in  the  majority," 
because  at  the  Congress  of  the  "  Russian  Democratic 
Social  Party,"  held  in  London  in  1903,  this  group  had 
outvoted  the  others  on  a  question  of  tactics  and  in- 
ternal organization.  Their  ultimate  aim  then  was  the 
same  as  it  is  now.  Economically  backward  Russia, 
brought  to  a  state  of  effervescence  by  an  unsuccessful 


22    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

war  of  1904,  was  to  be  used  as  fuel  for  a  universal 
conflagration  in  countries  better  prepared  to  experi- 
ment in  Socialism. 

It  is  particularly  noticeable  after  1905  that  Revolu- 
tionary and  Utopian  tendencies  revived  also  in  Inter- 
national Socialism.  And  it  is  neither  half-autocratic 
Russia,  nor  the  country  of  Junkerdom — Germany — 
but  the  accomplished  democracy  of  France,  which 
serves  as  a  basis  for  a  new  and  bolder  start.  The 
spirit  of  the  new  movement  is  best  characterized  by 
the  titles  of  the  two  leading  productions  of  its  chief 
spokesman,  Georges  Sorel :  Reflections  on  Violence ' 
(first  published  in  Mouvement  Socialiste  at  the  beginning 
of  1906),  and  The  Illusions  of  Progress.  Despair  of 
Democracy,  despair  of  Science  :  such  are  the  pessi- 
mistic backgrounds  upon  which  a  new  generation  in 
France  was  weaving  the  tangled  web  of  their  political 
super-optimism.  No  positivism  of  the  older  genera- 
tion of  Taine  and  Renan.  No  belief  in  rationalism 
and  intellectualism.  Les  Mefaits  des  Intellectuels  is 
the  title  of  the  book  of  Sorel's  colleague,  Eduard  Berth. 
Oh,  the  "  little  "  science — la  petite  science — which  "  feigns 
to  attain  the  truth  by  attaining  the  lucidity  of  exposi- 
tion "  and  shirks  the  "  obscurities."  Let  us  go  back 
to  the  darkness  of  the  subconscious,  the  psychological 
source  of  every  inspiration  ;  back  to  the  integral  phil- 
osophy of  Bergson,  the  new  maitre  (who  disdainfully 
disclaims  the  honour  of  having  served  as  a  teacher  of 
Syndicalism)  ;  back  to  the  "  myth  "  of  the  general 
strike.  One  is  tempted  to  say  :  "  Back  to  the  famous 
formula  :  Credo,  quia  absurdum." 

The  practical  aim  and  result  of  this  protest  against 
1  London :  George  Allen  and  Unwin,  Ltd. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  23 

"  rationalism,"  in  the  name  of  the  "  integral  intuition," 
is  to  shift  the  ground  from  theory  to  practice,  from 
scientific  law  to  conscious  volition.  "  Syndicalism," 
says  Eduard  Berth  (Mouvement  Socialiste,  1907), 
"  transfers  the  idea  of  catastrophe  from  the  pole  of 
fatalism  to  the  opposite  pole  of  the  workmen's  freedom. 
Its  principal  object  is  to  rouse  the  proletariat  from 
passiveness  to  activity."  "  Direct  action "  is  thus 
substituted  for  a  slow  development  of  a  Socialist  over- 
throw in  the  future.  The  "  myth  "  of  a  general  strike 
is  the  immediate  aim  of  such  direct  action,  and  it  is 
quite  unnecessary — nay,  even  dangerous — to  go  beyond 
that  aim  and  "  to  argue  learnedly  about  the  future." 
"  We  are  not  obliged  to  indulge  in  lofty  reflections 
about  philosophy,  history,  or  enonomics,"  Sorel  says. 
"  A  general  strike  is  indeed  the  myth  in  which  Socialism 
is  wholly  comprised,  i.e.  a  body  of  images  capable  of 
invoking  instinctively  all  the  sentiments  which  corre- 
spond to  the  different  manifestations  of  the  Socialist 
war  against  modern  society.  Strikes  have  engendered 
in  the  proletariat  the  noblest,  deepest,  and  most  moving 
sentiments  that  they  possess.  We  thus  obtain  the 
intuition  of  Socialism  such  as  no  language  can  give  us 
with  perfect  clearness,  and  we  obtain  it  as  a  whole, 
it  is  perceived  instantaneously."  From  this  point  of 
view  an  "  inspiring  struggle  "  for  the  struggle's  sake 
is  an  aim  in  itself,  says  Pouget  (Le  Parti  du  Travail)  : 
"  Revolution  is  a  work  of  all  moments,  of  to-day  as 
well  as  of  to-morrow  :  it  is  a  continuous  action,  an  every 
day  fight  without  truce  or  delay  against  the  powers 
of  aggression  and  extortion."  Such  a  direct  action, 
affirms  Lagardelle  (1906),  demonstrating  the  conscious- 
ness and  the  will  of  workmen,  is  "  self-sufficient  "  ;  it 


24    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

demonstrates  "  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  Syndi- 
calism." 

This  is  where  Revolutionary  Syndicalism  differen- 
tiates itself  from  Socialism.  "  Socialism,  like  any 
other  party  organism,"  M.  Lagardelle  goes  on  to  say, 
"  touches  the  workman  only  as  an  elector,  as  a  member 
of  the  political  society  mixed  together  with  citizens 
belonging  to  other  classes.  On  the  contrary,  the  class 
organization  considers  him  exclusively  in  his  quality 
of  working  man  as  a  member  of  the  economic  society, 
i.e.  at  the  moment  of  his  dissociation  from  all  other 
classes  and  his  opposition  to  them.  Party  and  class 
thus  find  themselves  at  opposite  points  of  view,  and  their 
tactics  can  only  be  antagonistic."  Of  the  two  notions, 
"  class "  is  a  natural  combination,  while  "  party " 
is  artificial  and  intellectual,  whether  it  be  "  Radical," 
"  Socialist,"  or  "  Labour." 

Here  it  is  also  that  Revolutionary  Syndicalism  ab- 
jures the  basic  idea  of  Democracy  :  the  political  equality 
of  all  members  of  human  society  held  under  common 
obligation  to  adapt  their  individual  benefits  to  the 
interests  of  the  whole.  "  The  working  class,"  M. 
Lagardelle  writes,  "  makes  use  of  political  Democracy 
only  the  better  to  destroy  it."  It  does  not  recognize 
any  other  law  or  obligation  but  the  law  of  "  class  war." 

Says  M.  Merrheim  (Mouvement  Socialiste,  February 
1910)  :  "  Syndicalism  does  not  confine  itself  to  any 
legal  boundaries  ;  it  would  contradict  its  very  substance 
if  it  did.  It  breaks  through  every  barrier,  legal  or  illegal, 
which  would  stem  its  tide.  Moreover,  it  does  this  not 
by  fits  and  starts,  not  through  mediation,  but  every 
day."  There  is  only  one  thing  which  may  indeed 
retard  this  rapid  course  toward  the  unknown,  to  the 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  25 

"  mythic "  Social  Revolution.  This  is  readiness  on 
the  part  of  the  "  middle  classes  "  to  yield  and  to  make 
peace,  combined  with  readiness  to  negotiate  on  the 
part  of  the  "  working  class  aristocracy,"  their  acknow- 
ledged leaders.  This  is  the  only  issue  that  Georges 
Sorel  is  particularly  afraid  of,  as  it  is  likely  to  soften 
the  warlike  spirit  of  the  working  class,  and  thus  to  post- 
pone their  victory  in  the  struggle.  "  To  repay  with 
black  ingratitude  the  benevolence  of  those  who  would 

_ 

protect  the  worker,  to  meet  with  insults  the  speeches 
of  those  who  advocate  human  fraternity,  and  to  reply 
by  blows  at  the  advocates  of  those  who  would  propagate 
social  peace — all  this  is  assuredly  not  in  conformity 
with  the  rules  of  fashionable  Socialism  .  .  .  but  it 
is  a  very  practical  method  of  showing  the  bourgeois 
that  they  must  mind  their  own  business."  The  "  Re- 
formists "  of  Socialism  and  of  Syndicalism  were  coming 
to  the  conclusion  that  Marx's  prediction  about  the 
widening  chasm  between  the  "  expropriators  "  and  the 
"  expropriated  "  did  not  correspond  to  reality,  which 
consisted  rather  in  the  "  blunting  "  of  social  contra- 
dictions, thus  verging  towards  social  peace.  But  just 
here  Revolutionary  Syndicalism  steps  in.  "  Marx 
thought,"  Sorel  goes  on  to  say,  "  that  the  bourgeoisie 
need  not  be  excited  by  the  use  of  force.  Now  we  are  in 
the  presence  of  a  new  and  unforeseen  fact :  a  bourgeoisie 
which  tries  to  attenuate  the  force  it  possesses.  Shall 
we  believe  that  the  Marxist  conception  is  dead  ?  By 
no  means,  because  proletarian  violence  appears  on  the 
stage  at  the  very  time  when  attempts  are  being  made 
to  mitigate  conflicts  by  social  peace.  The  proletarian 
violence  hedges  the  employers  within  their  role  of  pro- 
ducers, and  thus  tries  to  restore  the  structure  of  classes 


26    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

which  were  going  to  mix  themselves  in  the  democratic 
bog.  Violence  gives  back  to  the  proletariat  their 
natural  weapon  of  the  class  struggle,  by  means  of 
frightening  the  bourgeoisie  and  "  profiting  by  the 
bourgeois  dastardness  (la  Idchete  bourgeoise)  in  order  to 
impose  on  them  the  will  of  the  proletariat." 

Before  we  proceed  further  it  is  very  important  to 
state  that  this  point  of  view  is  substantially  international. 
In  order  to  fight  out  their  class  war  successfully,  the 
working  class  must  rid  itself  not  only  from  party  obli- 
gations and  from  solidarity  with  Democracy,  but  also 
from  all  pledges  to  Nation  and  State.  "  For  a  Revolu- 
tionary Syndicalist,"  says  M.  Brouilhet  (Le  Conflict  des 
Doctrines),  "  the  idea  of  native  country  is  not  necessary. 
It  seems  rather  artificial,  and  does  not  correspond 
to  his  interests.  On  the  contrary,  it  associates  groups 
whose  interests  are  conflicting,  and  it  directs  that 
loosely  connected  aggregate,  called  patriotism,  against 
classes,  whose  interests  are  identical."  The  Enquete  of 
the  Mouvement  Socialiste  into  the  idea  of  "  fatherland  " 
in  1905  gave  the  result  foreshadowing  the  attitude 
taken  by  the  internationalist  currents  of  Socialism 
ten  years  later.  "  The  Workmen's  Fatherland,"  M.  T. 
Bled  says,  "  is  their  class  ;  their  internationalism  knows 
no  boundaries.  Capitalism  is  for  them  the  only  enemy 
to  fight  with."  M.  Bousquet  says :  "  All  wars  are 
the  work  of  capitalists,  and  serve  their  interests." 
"  The  only  legitimate  war,"  in  M.  Challaye's  opinion, 
"  is  the  revolt  of  all  proletarians  against  all  capitalists." 
And  M.  Lagardelle  draws  from  his  Enquete  the  conclu- 
sion that  "  anti-militarist  and  anti-patriotic  proga- 
ganda  has  no  other  meaning  but  the  destruction  of 
State.  Its  aim  is  to  unsettle  the  army  and  to  destroy 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  27 

the  fatherland,  because  the  institution  of  the  army  and 
the  idea  of  fatherland  help  to  maintain  the  existence 
of  the  State."  This  sentence,  preceding  by  ten  years 
Zimmerwald  and  Kienthal,  is  quite  seriously  meant. 
"  The  Syndicalists,"  affirms  M.  Lagardelle,  "  fight  the 
State  for  the  same  reason  as  they  fight  the  employers  : 
both  are  joint  forces  which  play  into  the  hands  of  each 
other.  The  destruction  of  State  is  a  preliminary  con- 
dition to  the  truimph  of  the  proletariat." 

Revolutionary  Syndicalism  verges  here  into  Anarchism. 
And,  indeed,  genuine  Anarchists  have  tried  to  represent 
Syndicalists  as  "  Anarchists  who  are  unconscious  of 
themselves  "  (les  Anarchistes  qui  s'ignorent).  The  whole 
current  is  sometimes  classified  as  "  Anarcho-syndical- 
ism." This  is,  however,  quite  wrong,  and  the  Italian 
Syndicalist,  Labriola,  was  right  in  stating  that  the 
Syndicalists'  anti-Statehood  is  very  different  to  the 
Anarchists'.  "The  first  strives  to  transfer  the  authority 
of  the  State  to  the  Syndicate — it  is  thus  for  discipline 
and  organization  ;  while  the  Anarchist's  anti-Statehood 
abolishes  all  authority  and  repudiates  every  kind  of 
government."  One  might  add  that  as  the  destruction 
of  the  State  was  supposed  to  follow  the  advent  of  the 
"  mythical  "  general  strike,  it  was  relegated  to  the 
obscure  sphere  of  the  future  where  no  predictions  were 
to  be  attempted,  and  towards  which  an  attitude  of 
mere  class  enthusiasm  was  to  be  fomented  among  the 
masses.  Every  time  that  Lagardelle  or  Berth  try  to 
elucidate  this  question,  they  fall  back  upon  old  Proud- 
honian  formulas  and  demonstrate  that  they  are  not 
quite  clear  on  the  subject  themselves.  Says  Lagardelle, 
while  protesting  against  Rousseau's  political  atomism 
and  equality  fiction  :  "  The  existence  of  the  State  is 


28    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

possible  only  as  long  as  it  bases  itself  on  the  fiction 
of  general  '  citizenship  '  and  throws  into  the  shade 
the  difference  between  working  men,  capitalists,  landed 
proprietors,  etc.  The  State  will  disappear  the  very 
day  when  it  will  no  more  represent  general  interest 
as  opposed  to  the  interests  of  individuals.  Should 
political  parties  be  composed  exclusively  of  workmen, 
capitalists,  and  agriculturists,  and  should  they  pursue 
their  material  aims  alone,  without  minding  such  general 
tasks  which  political  society  is  expected  to  solve,  the 
State  machinery  thus  left  to  work  in  the  vacuum  will 
run  down  by  itself."  Economic  organization  will 
take  the  place  of  political  society,  and  it  will  take  the 
form  of  a  federation  of  autonomous  syndicates  and 
professional  unions. 

An  important  change  in  this  attitude  toward  the 
State  has  since  taken  place.  With  the  advent  of  Mr. 
Lenin's  millennium  in  Russia,  the  obscure  transitional 
stage  from  the  general  strike  to  the  Social  Revolution 
was  filled  up  with  new  "  inspiring "  images  much 
more  in  harmony  with  the  "  violence  "  theory.  Of 
course,  Mr.  Lenin,  too,  is  sure  of  the  final  destruction 
of  the  State  institutions.  But  meantime  he  is  quite 
determined  to  use  them  for  "  the  dictatorship  of 
the  proletariat."  A  few  weeks  before  his  triumph 
in  Petrograd  Mr.  Lenin  wrote  his  leaflet  entitled : 
Shall  the  Bolsheviks  remain  in  Power  ?  Here  he  bluntly 
states  his  attitude  toward  the  State.  Of  course,  he 
says,  we  preached  the  destruction  of  the  State  as 
long  as  it  was  in  possession  of  our  enemies.  But  why 
should  we  do  it  after  having  ourselves  taken  the  helm  ? 
The  State  is,  indeed,  an  organized  rule  by  a  minority 
.  .  .  of  privileged  classes.  Let  us  in  our  turn 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  29 

substitute  our  minority  for  theirs,  and  let  us  run  the 
machinery  ! 

Here  we  come  to  the  central  point  of  the  tactics 
of  Revolutionary  Syndicalism.  It  was  called  the 
tactics  of  "  impatience."  In  order  for  this  tactics  to 
be  efficient  it  was  not  enough  to  rid  the  class  from  its 
obligations  towards  party,  nation,  and  State.  It  was 
quite  consistent  and  necessary  to  rid  the  "  impatient  " 
ones  within  the  class  itself  of  the  inertia  of  its  passive 
members.  For  direct  action  to  become  possible,  a 
minority  within  the  minority  was  to  be  organized, 
namely,  the  "  conscious  minority  "  in  the  midst  of  the 
unconscious  throng.  Says  Lagardelle  :  "  Direct  action 
presupposes  an  active  interference  by  a  daring  minority. 
The  mass,  unwieldy  and  clumsy  as  it  is,  must  not  here 
speak  out  its  mind  in  order  to  start  the  struggle,  as 
happens  in  Democracy.  Figures  do  not  make  law,  and 
numbers  do  not  rule.  A  select  group  (une  elite)  is 
formed,  and  owing  to  its  qualities  it  allures  the  masses 
and  directs  them  on  the  path  of  combat."  '  The 
most  conscious  and  brave  lead  .  .  .  the  mass,  seeing 
their  action,  instinctively  follows."  According  to  M. 
Pouget  (1907),  the  "  conscious  minority "  is  even 
obliged  to  act,  if  it  is  unwilling  to  surrender  its  demands 
and  its  strivings  to  the  inertia  of  the  mass,  which  revels 
in  the  state  of  economic  slavery.  The  minority,  con- 
scious of  its  aim,  acts  without  heeding  the  amorphous 
or  the  refractory  mass ;  as  opposed  to  Democracy, 
which  through  the  machinery  of  universal  suffrage 
gives  the  lead  to  the  unconscious  and  lazy,  or  rather  to 
their  elected  representatives,  thus  stifling  the  minority 
which  looks  to  the  future.  This  method  is  fully 
justified  by  the  attitude  of  the  masses  themselves 


30    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Says  Brouilhet  (Les  Conflicts)  :  "  The  masses  expect 
to  be  treated  with  violence,  and  not  to  be  persuaded. 
They  always  obediently  follow  when  a  single  man 
or  a  clique  shows  the  way.  Such  is  the  law  of  collec- 
tive psychology."  One  might  suggest  that  it  is  not  the 
best  way  to  educate  the  masses  in  political  conscious- 
ness, and  that  the  "  law  of  collective  psychology  "  is 
here  used  in  the  same  manner  as  in  Macchiavelli's 
theory  or  in  the  practice  of  Autocracy.  But  Revolu- 
tionary Syndicalism  does  not  shirk  the  comparison. 
Its  political  romanticism,  its  excursions  in  the  sphere 
of  the  subconscious,  its  repudiation  of  democratic 
principles,  its  hero-worship — in  short,  all  its  psychology 
it  shares  in  common  with  the  opposite,  the  reactionary 
pole  of  that  generation  of  French  writers  and  politicians. 
The  observation  has  been  more  than  once  made,  that 
over  the  head  of  Democracy— Syndicalism  stretches 
forth  its  hand  to  Royalism.  Sorel  and  Berth,  indeed, 
fight  the  same  enemy  as  Charles  Maurras,  and  very  often 
they  use  the  same  weapon. 

Government  by  minority  :  This  is  the  last  word  of 
Syndicalism  which  it  has  in  common  with  Bolshevism, 
not  only  in  theory,  but  also  in  practice.  That  is  why 
there  exists  such  a  strong  undercurrent  of  sympathy 
with  the  Bolshevist  experiment  in  Russia  amongst 
all  partisans  of  a  direct  social  revolution  the  world 
over.  The  negative  side  of  the  Revolutionary  Syndi- 
calist doctrine,  its  repudiation  of  Democracy,  is  also 
common  to  Bolshevism.  Both  are  against  Parliamen- 
tary action,  against  universal  suffrage,  against  every- 
thing which  provides  for  equal  rights  to  every  "  citizen," 
and  thus,  quite  consistently,  against  guarantees  of 
political  freedom  for  all.  Under  the  regime  of  class 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  31 

war  there  can  exist  no  rules  of  clemency  and  humanity, 
not  even  such  minima  as  are  established  by  the  Hague 
Conventions.  No  mediation  or  arbitration  is  possible 
between  relentless  foes — the  international  proletariat, 
and  its  "  coward  "  enemy,  the  "  capitalist."  No  com- 
pact is  admissible  even  with  those  "  traitors  "  among 
the  Socialists  who  wish  to  join  hands  with  "  political 
Democracy." 

It  must  be  pointed  out  that  we  do  not  meet  with  the 
same  state  of  mind  on  the  side  of  Moderate  Socialism. 
Far  from  denouncing  the  extreme  tendencies  ol  Revolu- 
tionary Syndicalism,  Moderate  Syndicalists  and  Socia- 
lists, the  "  Reformists,"  always  tried  to  keep  in  contact 
with  the  Extremists  while  preserving  their  own  atti- 
tude of  "  political  action."  As  a  result  of  this,  at 
every  clash  of  opinion,  the  Revolutionary  Syndicalists 
always  won  in  the  debates,  while  their  opponents  with 
difficulty  carried  patched-up  conciliatory  resolutions 
in  Socialist  Congresses.  The  tactics  of  "  direct  action  " 
were  approved  by  a  great  majority  of  825  against  369 
at  the  Syndicalist  (C.G.T.).  Congress  at  Bourges  (1904). 
At  the  next  Congress  at  Amiens  (1906),  in  compliance 
with  the  demands  of  the  Revolutionaries,  such  as 
Merrheim,  the  Syndicalist  tactics  were  proclaimed 
independent  from  party  discipline  :  Syndicalists  were 
left  free  to  carry  on  a  "a  ceaseless  fight  against  every 
legality,  every  power,  and  all  enemy  forces,"  while  the 
party  was  kindly  permitted  to  "  strive  for  social  reform." 
The  Socialist  Congress  at  Limoges,  two  weeks  after  the 
Amiens  decision,  under  Jaures'  influence,  endorsed  this 
decision  by  admitting  a  "  combined  action  "  of  both 
Syndicalists  and  politicians,  as  equally  necessary  for 
fully  enfranchising  the  working  class.  It  "invited  the' 


82    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

militants  to  do  their  best  to  dissipate  all  misunderstanding 
between  the  C.G.T.  (Confederation  Generate  du  Travail) 
and  the  Socialist  party."  In  vain  Guesde  tried  to  prove 
(next  year,  1907,  at  the  Congress  of  Nancy)  how  artificial 
and  contradictory  this  decision  was.  In  vain  he  at- 
tempted again  and  again  to  subordinate  Syndicalist 
tactics  to  those  of  the  Socialist  party.  The  "  disease 
of  unity,"  to  use  Herve's  expression,  again  had  the  upper 
hand,  and  a  new  conciliatory  resolution  by  Jaures  was 
carried  .by  an  insignificant  majority.  The  debate  was 
reopened  at  Toulouse  in  1908,  the  question  being 
discussed  thoroughly.  But  the  resolution  was  the 
same :  all  differences  of  opinion,  important  as  they 
were,  were  drowned  in  the  benevolent  utterances  of 
Jaures'  concluding  speech.  The  conciliation  achieved 
was  merely  that  of  phrase  and  style.  Every  practical 
issue  discussed  at  the  Nismes  Congress  of  1910,  at  the 
St.Quentin  Congress  of  1911,  or  at  the  Lyons  Congress  of 
1912,  repeatedly  revealed  the  incompatibility  of  the  two 
tendencies  within  the  party.  The  Syndicalist  Congress 
of  1912  reaffirmed  the  decision  of  Amiens  and  severely 
criticized  the  "  salon  Socialism,"  while  pointing  out 
the  difference  between  true  proletarians  and  intellectuals 
belonging  to  the  Bar  and  the  engineering  professions. 

Moderate  Socialism  even  then  persisted  in  its  con- 
ciliatory attitude.  "  Why  does  this  tyrannic  minority 
lead  the  Socialist  party  in  the  way  it  is  not  willing 
to  go  ?  "  M.  Fourniere  asks  in  his  book  on  The  Socialist 
Crisis  (1908),  and  he  gave  a  scathing  answer.  "  All 
of  us,  beginning  with  extreme  Anarchists  and  ending 
with  genuine  Parliamentary  Socialists,  drag  along  the 
same  chain,  the  chain  of  fear,  lest  we  should  appear 
not  so  advanced  as  people  who  lead.  Pale  and  dis- 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  33 

concerted,  we  all  press  forward  in  a  state  of  revolu 
tionary  panic  which  would  be  ridiculous  were  not  the 
abyss  so  close.  How  shall  we  keep  clear  of  it  when 
the  tail  carries  the  head  with  it  ?  "  It  is  very  interesting 
to  remark  that  this  was  in  1911  the  opinion  of  M. 
Albert  Thomas,  the  prominent  Reformist  Syndicalist, 
who  has  since  played  such  an  important  part  in  organiz- 
ing the  munition  work  of  his  country.  "  The  party  has 
not  the  courage,"  says  he,  "  explicitly  to  oppose  ideas 
to  ideas,  tactics  to  tactics,  doctrine  to  doctrine  :  it 
sticks  to  '  unanimity  formulas,'  which,  owing  to  their 
fatally  uncertain  character,  can  have  neither  the  value 
nor  the  fecundity  of  a  rule  of  action."  We  shall 
see  later  on  that  Albert  Thomas  himself  succumbed 
to  the  same  deficiency  of  Moderate  Socialism. 

2.  THE    PROMOTERS   OF   THE    INTERNATIONALIST 
DOCTRINE  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 

The  World  War  thus  found  the  World  Socialism  in 
a  state  of  confusion  and  helplessness.  It  looked,  though, 
as  if  war  in  itself  might  bring  about  a  stoppage  on  the 
edge  of  the  "  abyss."  Had  not  Sorel  himself  in  his 
book  On  Violence  foreseen  that  a  great  war  might 
stiffen  the  energy  of  the  bourgeoisie,  and  bring  to  power 
men  possessing  the  will  to  govern  ?  On  the  other  hand, 
was  it  not  more  likely  that  a  war  of  exhaustion  would 
give  a  new  chance  for  a  revival  of  anti-militarist  and 
anti-patriotic  propaganda,  having  the  avowed  aim  of 
dissolving  the  army,  ruining  the  "  fatherland,"  dis- 
carding the  State  institutions,  and  thus  helping  enor- 
mously towards  some  attempts  on  a  larger  scale  at  a 
proletarian  upheaval  ? 


34    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Both  hopes  and  fears  have  been  realized.  The 
bracing  influence  of  war,  as  well  as  its  relaxing  influence, 
have  proved  equally  efficient ;  the  former  chiefly  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  latter,  unhappily,  as  the 
end  approached,  and  particularly  after  the  Armistice. 
The  issue  between  Reformist  and  Revolutionary 
Socialism  and  Syndicalism  has,  accordingly,  remained 
unsettled.  It  is  being  waged  to-day.  But  one  con- 
clusion at  least  might  be  drawn  from  the  new  experiences 
of  war-time  :  that  of  the  incompatibility  of  national 
and  patriotic  tendencies  of  Socialist  thought  and  tactics 
with  international  class  war  strivings.  Whether  the 
lesson  has  been  really  learnt,  I  dare  not  say.  I  mean, 
of  course,  learnt  by  the  national  side,  because  on  the 
international  side  the  incompatibility  of  class  war  and 
social  revolution  with  "  political  Democracy "  and 
Moderate  Socialism  always  has  served  as  a  starting- 
point  for  further  argument  and  action.  And  even 
now,  while  the  Reformist  and  National  Socialists 
were  very  slow  to  admit  the  criminality  of  the  tactics 
of  the  Internationalist  Extremists,  the  latter  have 
not  wavered  a  moment  in  proclaiming  the  Reformists 
and  Nationalists  "  traitors  "  to  the  proletarian  cause. 
The  attitude  on  both  sides  has  remained  the  same  as 
at  pre-war  Congresses  :  conciliatory  and  evasive  on 
the  part  of  the  Moderates,  militant  and  self-reliant  on 
the  part  of  the  Extremists. 

We  need  not  dwell  long  upon  the  activity  of  the 
Socialists  who  made  "  sacred  union  "  with  the  bourgeois 
parties.  Everybody  knows  how  important  their  con- 
tribution was,  both  in  material  and  moral  prepara- 
tion, for  the  allied  victory.  But  it  is  equally  im- 
portant to  point  out  that  their  doctrine  was  and 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  35 

remained  inconsistent  with  their  new  tactics  of  "  national 
defence."  Even  now — and  perhaps  now  less  than  ever 
— they  have  not  found  the  "  courage  "  to  oppose 
"  ideas  to  ideas,  tactics  to  tactics,  doctrine  to  doctrine." 
Practically  they  stuck  to  many  internationalist  doctrines 
on  which,  quite  consistently,  their  opponents  have  based 
their  Extremist  tactics.  That  is  why,  strong  as  their 
national  policy  was,  they  have  always  been  powerless 
to  reconcile  it  with  their  own  international  theory. 
That  is  also  why  they  were  gradually  losing  their  hold 
over  the  masses,  while  their  opponents  were  gaining 
ground.  One  cannot  lead  if  he  does  not  know  whither 
he  goes. 

I  must  particularly  mention  three  leading  ideas 
which  have  helped  the  Extremists  to  gain  the  lead 
while  they  perplexed  the  Moderates  and  threw  them  off 
the  scent.  The  first  is  that  wars  are  unavoidable  in 
a  world  of  capitalist  production,  and  they  can  only  be 
stopped  by  the  international  victory  of  Socialism.1 
The  second  idea  is  that  all  capitalist  societies  are 

1  This  point  is  often  mentioned  in  the  resolutions  of  patriotic 
Socialists.  E.g.,  that  is  how  the  Allied  Socialists  who  met  in 
London  in  February  1916  expressed  this  idea  in  their  reso- 
lution. "  The  conference  does  not  fail  to  recognize  the  exist- 
ence of  general  and  deep  causes  of  the  European  conflict,  which 
is  a  monstrous  product  of  antagonisms  that  rend  asunder  the 
capitalist  society,  and  of  a  policy  of  aggressive  colonialism  and 
imperialism,  which  International  Socialism  has  never  ceased 
to  combat,  and  for  which  all  Governments  bear  their  portion 
of  responsibility."  ..."  Remaining  true  to  the  principles  of 
the  International,"  they  expressed  their  hope  that  soon  the 
proletarians  of  all  countries,  recognizing  the  identity  of  their 
fundamental  interests,  will  find  themselves  united  against 
capitalist  militarism  and  imperialism.  The  manifesto  of  the 
first  National  Congress  of  the  French  Socialist  party  during 
the  war  (December  29,  1915)  declares  :  "  The  Socialist  party 
knows  that  as  long  as  the  iniquity  of  capitalism  lasts  .  .  .  the 
dangers  of  war  will  co-exist  with  capitalism." 


86    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

imperialistic,  i.e.  they  strive  for  annexations.    The  third 
is   that   the    "  self-determination "    principle   must   be 
given    free    play    for    all    "  oppressed  "    nationalities. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  all  these  ideas,  but  not 
one  of  them  can  be  accepted  without  strong  reserva- 
tions.    Capitalism  is  an  international   factor  working 
not    for,    but    against    military    conflicts.     If    there    is 
truth  in  Mr.  Norman  Angell's  assertions,  that  war  in 
modern  times  is  useless  and  futile,  because  "  conquest 
(extension  of  territory)  is  not  necessary  for  the  welfare 
of  an  expanding  people  in   the    modern  world,"  it  is 
chiefly  based   on   the   growing   international  influence 
of  the  world's  industrialism.     Not  capitalism  in  itself, 
but   the   exclusively   "  national "   system  of   capitalist 
production  is  dangerous,  and  if  carried  to  extremes  is 
likely  to  become  incompatible  with  the  peace  of  the 
world.     But  this  is  just  the  case  in  Germany,  a  newly 
industrialized  state  which  has  preserved  its  mediaeval 
militarist  tradition.     This  is,  of  course,  "  imperialism  " 
in  the  offensive  sense  of  the  word.     But  it  is  too  far- 
fetched to  draw  the  inference  that  every  "  capitalistic  " 
Government  is  bound  to  be  "  imperialistic."     For  an 
Internationalist   Socialist   this  inference  is   important, 
because  he  directly  draws  from  it  a  further  conclusion  : 
that   "  peoples  "   which   are   supposed   to   be  generally 
Pacifist  must  "  impose  their  will  "  upon  the  "  Govern- 
ments "  which  are  generally  accused  of  being  "  imperial- 
istic "  and  "  Never  Endians  "  (jusqu'au-boutistes).     To 
be  sure,  under  Democracy  "  Governments  "  represent 
"  peoples,"  and  particularly  so  in  the  state  of  war  ; 
the   German   "  people  "   as  represented  by  its   Social 
Democracy  has  backed  even  its  semi-autocratic  Govern- 
ment, which  was  doubtless    "  imperialistic."     But  an 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  87 

Internationalist  Socialist  of  the  Entente  pretends  not 
to  make  war  on  the  "  German  people  "  ;  he  only  fights 
the  German  "  Government,"  while  he  also  preserves 
the  right,  which  is  also  his  duty,  of  fighting  his  own 
Government  for  being  "imperialistic."1 

The  "  self-determination  "  principle,  if  applied  in  its 
larger  and  more  general  sense,  may,  of  course,  apparently 
justify  such  a  universal  use  of  the  term  "  imperialism." 
Great  Britain  may  well  accept  as  its  slogan  Imperium 
et  libertas.  And  Russia  may  claim  not  to  be  "  im- 
perialistic "  at  all,  but  self-sufficient  within  her  immense 
space  of  one-sixth  of  the  world's  surface.  Neither 
one  nor  the  other  may  ask  for  annexations.  Never- 
theless, both  Great  Britain  and  Russia  possess  some 
"  oppressed  "  nationalities  "  annexed  "  many  centuries 
ago.  Such  is  the  law  of  the  growth  in  any  large  state. 
Well,  this  is  sufficient  for  them  to  be  declared  "  im- 
perialistic," and  for  "  oppressed  "  nationalities,  such 
as  Ireland,  Egypt,  India,  the  Baltic  Provinces, 
Ukraine,  Georgia,  to  be  taught  to  ask  for  "  dis- 
annexation." 

This  is  a  state  of  mind — or,  rather,  the  state  of  doc- 
trine— which  was  bound  to  bring  patriotic  and  national 
Socialists  into  trouble,  while  depriving  them  of  any 
firm  basis  in  their  quarrel  with  the  Internationalists. 

1  Cf.  the  declaration  of  the  Parliamentary  Socialist  Group 
in  France  on  the  occasion  of  the  vote  of  war  credits,  on  June  15, 
1917  :  "  The  Socialist  party  affirms  that  it  considers  it  to  be 
its  right  and  even  its  direct  duty  to  seek,  with  the  Socialists 
of  other  countries,  for  the  means  of  bringing  the  governed  to 
impose  their  will  on  the  governors,  to  use  Mr.  Wilson's  ex- 
pression." Cf.  the  Daily  News  of  January  29,  1918  :  "  The 
people  of  Germany,  like  every  other  peaceful  people,  are  the 
victims  of  a  system  which  places  the  control  of  mankind  in 
the  hands  of  military  castes." 


88    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

The  latter  only  were  consistent  with  their  common 
doctrine,  while  opposing  the  idea  of  the  solidarity  of 
classes  to  that  of  the  solidarity  of  the  nation,  in  war 
time.  The  tactics  of  August  4,  1914,  were  certainly 
inconsistent  with  this  international  doctrine  of 
Socialism.  That  is  why  Mr.  Lenin's  argument  was 
irrefutable,  when,  quite  a  year  and  a  half  before  the 
Bolshevist  victory  in  Russia,  he  was  speaking  in  his 
customary  style  on  the  subject  of  the  French  and 
other  national  Socialists :  and  he  said,  "  Not  only 
capitalists  are  lying,  but  also  people  like  Renaudel, 
Sembat,  Longuet  (Longuet,  too  !),  Scheidemann,  Hynd- 
man,  Kautsky,  Plekhanov  and  Co.  Powerless  diplo- 
matists, they  greatly  injure  the  workmen's  movement 
by  their  defence  of  a  fiction  of  unity,  because  thus 
they  impede  the  necessary  union  between  the  opposition 
groups  in  all  countries,  in  order  to  create  the  Third  Inter- 
nationale." * 

The  immediate  aim  of  Bolshevism  is  here  quite 
clearly  stated.  The  "  Second  International  "  was  to 
be  proclaimed  dissolved  and  non-existent,  because  of 
the  "  treason  "  of  national  Socialists,  who  voted  war 
credits  in  all  belligerent  countries,  thus  forsaking  the 
ground  of  International  Socialism.  Instead  of  that 
"  Second  International,"  the  headquarters  of  which  had 
been  transferred  during  the  war  from  Brussels  to 
the  Hague,  a  new  "  International  "  was  to  be  created, 
which  should  include  only  the  revolutionary  minorities 
of  International  Socialism,  excluding  the  Parliamentary 
and  Reformist  majorities.  "  One  must  start  a  move- 

1  N.  Lenin.  On  the  task  of  the  opposition  in  France. 
A  letter  to  Comrade  Sarafoff,  published  on  February  10, 
1916. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  39 

ment,"  says  the  Bulletin  of  the  Socialist  International 
Committee,  created  in  Berne  for  this  very  purpose, 
"  which  will  have  strength  enough  to  eliminate  at  once 
the  leading  social-patriotic  organizations.  ...  A  new 
International  can  only  be  built  on  the  basis  of  the 
unfaltering  principles  of  Revolutionary  Socialism.  The 
allies  of  Governments,  Ministers,  domesticated  Deputies, 
advocates  of  Imperialism,  agents  of  capitalist  diplomacy, 
grave-diggers  of  the  Second  International,  cannot  take 
part  in  its  creation." 

It  was  here  that  Germany  saw  her  chance.  Among 
the  documents  published  by  the  "  Committee  on 
Public  Information  "  in  Washington  there  is  one  which 
is  worth  remembering  :  * 

CIRCULAR. 
February  13,   1915. 

PRESS  DIVISION  OF  THE  MINISTRY  OF  FOREIGN  AFFAIRS, 
BERLIN, 

TO 

ALL  AMBASSADORS,  MINISTERS  AND  CONSULAR  OFFICIALS 
IN  NEUTRAL  COUNTRIES. 

You  are  hereby  advised  that  in  the  country  to  which  you  are 
accredited  special  offices  are  to  be  established  for  the  organi- 
zation of  propaganda  in  the  countries  of  the  Powers  which  are 
in  a  state  of  war  with  Germany.  The  propaganda  will  be  con- 
nected with  the  stirring  up  of  social  unrest  and  strikes  resulting 
therefrom  ;  of  revolutionary  outbreaks  ;  of  separatism  among 
the  component  parts  of  the  States  ;  of  civil  war  ;  and  will  also 
comprise  agitation  in  favour  of  disarmament  and  the  discon- 


1  The  German  Bolshevik  Conspiracy,  War  Information  Series, 
No.  20,  October  1918.  Signed  by  the  Committee  on  Public 
Information,  George  Creel,  Chairman.  The  document  quoted 
is  published  in  the  Appendix  I,  under  the  heading  "  Documents 
circulated  by  the  anti-Bolsheviks  in  Russia."  These  documents 
were  sent  from  Petrograd  to  the  Volunteer  Army  Staff  in 
Novocherkassk  in  December  1917. 


40    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

tinuance  of  the  war  butchery.  You  are  requested  to  co-operate 
and  to  favour  in  every  way  the  managers  of  the  said  offices. 
These  persons  will  present  to  you  proper  credentials. 

(Signed)  BARTHELM. 

The  whole  set  of  these  documents  was  declared  to 
be  a  forgery,  for  reasons  which  may  be  conclusive  only 
for  some  of  them.     But  even  if  they  were  all  forgeries, 
the  document  quoted  is  only  a  good  abstract  of  what 
is   generally  known   from    other   sources.     Archibald's 
papers  presented  to  Parliament  are  known  to  every- 
body.    I  personally  heard  of  such  an  office  as  is  men- 
tioned in  the  document  quoted  from  a  Russian  revolu- 
tionary, who,  when  he  had  made  his  appearance  in  it 
(in  Stockholm),  had  been  asked  whether  he  came  from 
Mr.  Lenin,  and  following  upon  his  embarrassed  answer, 
it  had  been  proposed  as  a  test  that  he  should  blow  up 
a  railway  bridge  or  smuggle  arms  into  Finland  for  a 
remuneration  of  some  thousand  roubles.     The  Russian 
Intelligence  Office  had  quite  a  dossier  of  such  informa- 
tion regarding  the  Bolshevik  leaders,  and  the  Bolsheviks' 
first  concern  during  all  the  Bolshevist  risings  in  Petro- 
grad  was  to  take  possession  of  it  and  to  destroy  the  docu- 
ments.    But  a  portion  of  this  information  was  published 
with  the  consent  of  the  Provisional  Government  during 
the  first  Bolshevik  rising  in  July,  and  I  know  from  an 
absolutely  reliable  source  that  a  part  of  the  documents 
published  in  the  appendix  of  the  American  leaflet  also 
comes   from   the   Government   offices.     So   far   as   the 
quoted  statement  of  the  aims  of  German  propaganda 
and  its  destruction  policy  in  war-time  is  concerned, 
we  find  full  confirmation  of  it  in  another  document 
published    in    the    French    Yellow    Book    and    dated 
Berlin,  March  19,  1913.     Under  Point  II,  "  Aims  and 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  41 

Duties  of  our  National  Policy,"  in  case  of  a  continental 
war,  the  German  report,  received  "  from  a  trustworthy 
source,"  says  :  "  There  need  be  no  anxiety  about  the 
fate  of  our  colonies.  The  final  result  in  Europe  will 
settle  that.  On  the  other  hand,  disturbances  must  be 
stirred  up  in  N.  Africa  and  in  Russia.  This  is  a  means 
for  absorbing  forces  of  the  enemy.  It  is,  therefore, 
vitally  necessary  that  through  well-chosen  agents  we 
should  get  into  contact  with  influential  people  in  Egypt, 
Tunis,  Algiers,  and  Morocco  [in  1917  the  Report  might 
rather  mention  Turkey  and  the  Caucasus]  in  order 
to  prepare  the  necessary  measures  in  case  of  a  European 
War.  ...  A  first  attempt  made  a  few  years  ago  gave 
us  the  necessary  contact.  Unfortunately,  the  rela- 
tions established  then  have  not  been  sufficiently 
consolidated.  Whether  we  like  it  or  not,  we  shall 
have  to  resort  to  preparations  of  this  sort  in  order 
rapidly  to  bring  the  campaign  to  an  end.  Risings 
in  time  of  war  created  by  political  agents  require 
careful  preparation  by  material  means.  They  must 
break  out  simultaneously  with  the  destruction  of 
means  of  communication.  They  should  be  directed 
by  those  to  be  found  amongst  influential  religious,  or 
political  chiefs." 

When  the  long-looked-for  and  "  carefully-prepared  " 
war  finally  broke  out  in  the  following  year,  "  political 
chiefs  "  had  been  found  amongst  the  Russian  refugees 
of  the  "  Defeatist  "  type,  while  "  well-chosen  agents  " 
among  the  German  Social  Democracy  had  done  what 
they  could  in  order  to  secure  "  influential  people  "  in 
neutral  and,  if  possible,  even  in  the  enemy  countries. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  "  material  means  "  have  been 
spent  in  profusion.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  not 


42    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

every  "  head  "  or  "  chief  "  was  to  be  bought  by  money  ; 
but  when  aims  coincided  and  lines  of  action  ran  parallel, 
why  not  use  all  means  to  come  as  soon  as  possible  to 
the  universal  outbreak  which  will  destroy  even  such 
"  capitalists "  as  were  shortsighted  enough  to  help 
their  enemies  with  money  ? 

The  point  is  that,  owing  to  these  tactics  of  supporting 
extremists  in  enemy  countries  the  demarcation  line 
between  Parliamentary  and  Revolutionary  Socialism, 
which,  as  we  have  seen  already,  has  not  been  very 
distinctly  drawn  in  doctrine,  was  bound  to  be  finally 
obliterated  in  a  search  for  internal  enemies  in  conflicting 
States.  French  and  British  Moderate  Socialists  used 
to  send  congratulations  to  German  Spartacists,  while 
German  "  Majority "  Socialists,  through  the  inter- 
mediacy  of  neutrals,  encouraged  French  and  British 
Defeatists,  Bourderons  and  Marrheims,  Lansburys  and 
Morels.1 

Of  course,  it  is  chiefly  German  Social  Democracy 
which  is  especially  responsible  for  fanning  into  flame 
the  extreme  internationalist  doctrine,  for  giving  it  a 
new  body  and  setting  astir  its  spirit.  German  Social 
Democracy  was  also  rent  in  twain  by  two  opposite  cur- 
rents. One  was  ready  to  support  the  State  in  every  war, 
on  the  principle,  "  My  country,  right  or  wrong."  The 
other  ready  to  oppose  the  State  also  in  every  war,  on 
the  principle  of  the  "  class  war  "  against  all  "  capitalist  " 
Governments.  There  were  between  the  two  extremes 
the  same  intermediate  shades  of  opinion  :  one  ready 

1  George  Lansbury  wrote  in  the  then  Daily  Herald  :  "  To 
make  our  protest  effective  the  working  men  on  whom  transport 
and  communication  depends  ought  to  oppose  its  use  ;  they 
must  strike  against  war  !  "  I  find  this  quotation  in  Larkin's 
book  on  National  Socialism. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  43 

to  support  the  State  in  a  defensive  war,  the  other  ready 
to  fight  it  in  an  aggressive  war.     In  order  to  decide 
whether  the  war  was  aggressive  or  defensive  intermin- 
able  discussions   were   also   carried   on   regarding   the 
responsibility  for  the  origin  of  the  war  and  about  war 
aims,   "  Imperialistic  "   or    otherwise   (Schuldfrage  and 
Kriegsziele).     But    so    far    as    propaganda    in    enemy 
countries  was   concerned,  every   difference   of   opinion 
disappeared.     Noske,    together   with    Liebknecht,    was 
carrying    on    propaganda    amongst    the    workmen    in 
Brussels,  while  Bernstein,  according  to  his  own  avowal, 
was    helping    Scheidemann,     Sudekum,   and    Richard 
Fisher  "  to  create  sentiments  favourable  to  Germany 
amongst   the  Socialists   of   neutral   countries."     These 
exertions,  supported  by  "  material  means,"  proved  very 
successful.     Quite  a  number  of  neutral  Socialists  have 
made  themselves  commis-voyageurs — or  rather  "  secret 
diplomatists "    of    extreme    Internationalism    in    their 
dealings  with  public  opinion  within  the  Entente  Powers. 
Such  were,  e.g.,  the  Swiss  Socialists,  Greulich,  Flatten, 
Robert  Grimm,  the  Italian  Morgari,  the  Dane  Borgbjerg, 
the  Bulgar- Rumanian  Rakovsky,  and,  in  a  less  offensive 
way,  the  Dutch  Troelstra,  etc.     A  particularly  instruc- 
tive case  is  that  of   the   Russian,  Parvus,  if  not  the 
initiator,  in  any  case  the  best  and  most  efficient  promoter 
of  Russian  Bolshevism.     Who  is  Parvus,  or,  as  his  real 
name  is,  Alexander  Helfant  ?    Let  me  answer  by  quoting 
a  page   by  a  thorough   connoisseur  of   the   Bolshevist 
"  secret    diplomacy,"    the    Swiss    Socialist    Grumbach. 
"  A  Russian  by  birth,  he  had  to  leave  his  country  as 
a  revolutionary  a  long  time  ago.    In  Prussia  he  belonged 
to  Social  Democracy,  and  proved  so  radical  that  the 
Prussian    Government    exiled   him    as   an    undesirable 


44    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

alien.  He  fled  to  Munich,  the  German  Capua,  but  he 
did  not  remain  there.  Turkey  attracts  him.  After 
the  Young  Turk  Revolution,  he  emerges  in  Constanti- 
nople. He  is  at  home  in  the  Ministry  of  Finance,  and 
he  also  is  at  home  in  the  harem.  He  frequently  con- 
tributed to  Tanin,  the  organ  of  the  Young  Turks,  and 
he  acts  as  correspondent  at  the  Bosphorus  for  the 
German  Social  Democratic  Press,  in  order  to  defend 
the  Young  Turkish  regime.  The  war  breaks  out,  and 
Parvus'  activity  becomes  marvellous.  He  buys  grain, 
he  sells  grain.  He  writes  articles — always  for  the 
'  sacred  cause  '  of  Europe,  which  he  finds  well  served, 
because  it  is  the  German  armies  which  defend  it. 
'  Turkey  must  fight  on  the  side  of  Germany,  for  Euro- 
pean civilization  and  for  Russian  freedom.'  That  is 
what  he  says  and  writes.  '  Bulgaria  must  fight  on 
the  side  of  Turkey  and  Germany  for  European  civiliza- 
tion and  for  Russian  freedom.'  That  is  what  he  is 
never  tired  of  repeating.  He  goes  to  Sofia,  he  makes 
a  great  speech  wherein  he  asks  Bulgarian  Socialists 
to  recognize  that  Germany  is  a  champion  of  Right. 
The  Socialists  of  Sofia,  although  they  are  Bulgarian 
patriots,  find  his  argument  strange,  but  they  keep 
silent.  Our  man  goes  farther,  to  other  countries,  to 
Germany,  to  Prussia.  The  formerly  '  undesirable 
alien,'  exiled  from  the  hospitable  soil  of  Prussia,  has 
now  got  into  favour  in  Berlin.  Supreme  authorities 
appreciate  very  much  the  new  feathers  of  this  bird  of 
passage  with  whose  doings  they  are  well  acquainted. 
They  recognize  in  these  small,  wily  eyes  and  flat  nose 
of  the  new  Young  Turk,  formerly  Russian  (Jew),  coming 
from  Stambul  in  a  halo  of  highest  introductions,  a  glare 
of  the  pure  patriotism  of  a  Prussian  neophyte  ;  and  all 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  45 

doors  open  themselves  before  Parvus — all  doors,  and 
perhaps  a  certain  number  of  hands  (pockets)  into 
which  this  beneficent  genius  pours  his  gifts,  to  the  great 
pleasure  of  such  as  receive  and  also  to  the  great  satis- 
faction of  the  Treasury.  He  who  had  had  nothing,  now 
possesses,  as  a  Prussian  citizen,  a  fortune  of  one  million.1 
He  buys  houses  in  Berlin  for  himself  and  for  his  satellites, 
he  founds  periodicals  in  order  theoretically  to  justify 
militarist  Socialism  and  to  make  propaganda  for  German 
Messianism,  and  he  pays  well — he  pays  very  well. 
Men  of  mark  who,  before  the  war,  enjoyed  an  undis- 
puted reputation  as  untractable  Social  Democrats, 
Heinrich  Cunow,  the  late  editor  of  Vorwdrts,  Conrad 
Hanisch,  a  most  sympathetic  man  and  a  member  of 
the  Prussian  Diet,  Dr.  Paul  Lensch,  formerly  editor 
of  the  Leipziger  Volkszeitung,  and  a  member  of 
the  Reichstag,  all  receive  fixed  salaries  for  regu- 
larly expressing  their  views  in  Parvus'  organ,  the 
Bell  (Die  Glocke}.  Heilmann,  the  prominent  braillard, 
formerly  chief  editor  of  the  Chemnitzer  Volksstimme, 
is  put  at  the  head  of  the  International  Correspondence 
just  acquired  by  Parvus.  Along  with  them  some 
gentlemen  of  less  importance  and  some  distinguished 
nonentities  enter  into  the  same  ring  of  Parvus.'  But 
the  patron  himself,  who  commands  and  supplies  funds, 
only  rarely  condescends  to  write  articles.  How  could 
he  find  time  for  it?  He  travels  too  often  to  Switzerland, 
to  Denmark,  to  Sweden,  to  Norway,  and,  in  order  to 
do  it  with  more  comfort,  he  has  flats  in  Copenhagen, 
in  Stockholm,  in  Constantinople,  and  in  Berlin.  In  some 

1  At  a  later  date  (July  30,  1919)  Mr.  Bourtsev's  newspaper 
La  Cause  Commune  communicated  that  Parvus'  savings,  con- 
fiscated at  the  Copenhagen  banks,  amount  to  five  million  crowns. 


46    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

cities  he  possesses  automobiles.  All  owned  by  a  man 
who  before  the  war  had  nothing.  Nowadays  he  writes, 
he  receives,  he  speaks  for  the  Governments  of  Turkey, 
of  Germany,  of  Bulgaria.  He  creates  connections 
everywhere  ;  he  carries  on  a  coal  business  with  Danish 
and  Norwegian  syndicates."  Mr.  Grumbach  might  add 
that  Parvus  has  very  cleverly  entangled  the  whole 
Danish  Social  Democracy  in  his  profiteering  coal  busi- 
ness. He  knew  from  the  German  Government  the 
exact  moment  when  the  blockade  was  to  be  enforced 
and  English  coal  was  to  disappear  from  the  market. 
He  got  permission,  equivalent  to  a  monopoly,  to  import, 
in  advance,  a  great  quantity  of  German  coal,  and 
thus,  with  a  capital  of  25,000  crowns,  during  one  year 
and  a  half  he  made  net  profits  for  his  shareholders 
(of  whom  he  was  the  most  important)  amounting  to 
1,900,000  crowns.  Parvus  also  carried  on  business 
with  Russia,  through  the  intermediary  of  his  agent 
in  Stockholm,  Ganetsky-Furstenberg,  and  under  cover 
of  business  transactions  he  subsidized  his  Russian  friends 
with  money.  At  the  same  time  in  the  Bell  he  pro- 
pagated Imperialistic  Socialism,  while  in  Russia  he 
helped  to  promote  Revolutionary  Extremism.  Mr. 
Grumbach  mentions  a  conversation  he  had  had  with 
Lenin,  in  order  to  show  that  this  side  of  Parvus'  activity 
was  no  mystery  to  the  Bolshevist  leader.  When  one 
day  Grumbach  told  Lenin  that  Parvus  intended  to 
visit  him  at  Berne,  Lenin  grinned  maliciously  and 
said  :  "  Let  the  scoundrel  come,  and  I'll  throw  him 
downstairs."  Very  little  time  passed,  and  the 
"  scoundrel  "  became  a  "  comrade,"  who  was  sent  by 
the  Central  Committee  of  the  German  Social  Democrats 
to  congratulate  the  Bolshevist  delegation  in  Stockholm 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  DOCTRINE  47 

with  the  full  success  of  Parvus'  propaganda.  On 
November  17,  1917,  the  delegation,  composed  of 
"  scoundrels  "  of  the  same  type  (Karl  Radek,  popu- 
larly called  "  Kradek,"  i.e.  the  "  thief,"  Ganetsky  and 
Orlowsky),  announced  in  its  official  organ  that  "  Com- 
rade Parvus  conveyed  to  them  the  greetings  of  the 
German  Social  Democrat  Majority,  which  declares  its 
solidarity  with  the  Russian  proletariat  in  its  demands 
for  a  direct  armistice  and  immediate  peace  negotiations 
on  the  basis  of  democratic  peace  without  annexations 
and  indemnities." 

German  Social  Democrats,  indeed,  had  good  reasons 
to  rejoice.  The  great  success  of  Revolutionary  Ex- 
tremism in  Petrograd  has  crowned  their  two  years' 
exertions.  It  is  true  that  the  German  Moderate  Majority, 
while  greeting  the  Russian  Spartacists,  forgot  the  French 
proverb,  "  tel  qui  rit  vendredi,  dimanche  pleurera." 

"  I  recollect,"  Mr.  Grumbach  says,  "  a  discussion 
I  had  one  day  with  Lenin,  on  the  probability  of  a  revolu- 
tion in  Germany.  Lenin  had  told  me  that  he  /irmly  believed 
in  a  revolution  in  Germany,  if  only  revolution  could  be 
first  victorious  in  Russia."  Of  the  two,  Lenin  and 
Scheidemann,  it  was  Lenin  who  was  right.  What 
had  been  meant  initially  by  Germans  to  be  nothing 
but  a  ruse  de  guerre  against  the  Entente  has  since 
become  a  very  effective  means  for  bringing  about  the 
international  conflagration.  Of  course,  this  result  has 
been  achieved,  not  owing  to  some  intrinsic  value  of 
the  mischievous  doctrine,  used  as  an  explosive,  but 
chiefly  owing  to  the  exceptional  state  of  mind  of  the 
European  nations,  produced  by  a  protracted  war. 
The  only  people  who  really  knew  what  they  were 
driving  at  were  Mr.  Lenin's  partisans.  They  used 


48    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

the  war-time  psychology  of  masses,  conflicting  Govern- 
ments' and  peoples'  enmities,  the  inconsistencies  of 
Moderate  Socialists,  and  last,  but  not  least,  the 
"  scoundrels  " — espionage  and  secret  diplomatists' 
unrelenting  activity  for  their  own  unvarying  purpose 
of  spreading  Bolshevism  all  over  Europe. 


PART    II 

THE  PROGRESS   OF  BOLSHEVISM  THROUGH 
WAR    AND    REVOLUTION 

I  CANNOT  tell  the  long  story  in  detail  here,  but  it 
is  important  to  bear  in  mind  at  least  the  general  out- 
lines of  it,  in  order  that  the  connection  of  events  might 
not  be  forgotten  too  soon.  The  first  step  consisted  in 
preparatory  attempts  to  use  the  whole  of  International 
Socialism  against  such  national  fractions  of  it  as  had 
contracted  a  "  sacred  union  "  or  burgfrieden  with  the 
bourgeois  parties  and  Governments.  When  this  attempt 
failed,  the  second  step  was  immediately  set  in  motion. 
It  was  to  detach  "  revolutionary  "  fractions  of  Inter- 
national Socialism  from  patriotic  "  majorities,"  to 
connect  them  together,  to  work  out  their  common 
doctrine  and  tactics,  based  on  the  general  weariness  of 
the  masses,  and,  finally,  to  use  their  growing  disaffection 
for  revolutionary  experiments  in  "  Communist  "  Social- 
ism. The  third  step  was  reached  as  soon  as  one  of 
these  attempts  had  succeeded  at  the  point  of  least 
resistance,  which  was  Russia.  Its  chief  aim  and  meaning 
was  to  transform  the  national  revolution  which  broke 
out  against  the  Tsarist  Autocracy  into  a  social  revolution 
against  the  bourgeois  and  "  capitalist  "  classes.  With 
German  help  and  with  a  kind  of  half-conscious  con- 

4  *9 


50    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

nivance  of  Moderate  Socialism,  this  aim  has  also  been 
attained.  Then  a  fourth  step  followed  which  consisted 
in  an  attempt  to  substitute  civil  war  amongst  the  classes 
for  international  war  in  the  trenches.  At  least  two 
countries,  Russia  and  Germany,  were  to  be  implicated, 
in  order  that  this  attempt  might  succeed  and  that  inter- 
national strikes  might  be  stopped.  But  in  Germany 
social  revolution  was  late  in  coming,  and  it  was  Russia 
alone  that  had  meantime  to  suffer  from  the  consequences 
of  her  military  breakdown  in  the  trenches  and  the 
internal  social  war.  The  fifth  step  was  taken  after 
the  Armistice.  It  consisted  in  an  attempt  to  use  the 
Bolshevist  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  on  a  larger 
scale  as  a  fuel  to  kindle  a  similar  fire  amongst  the 
peoples  of  both  Central  Empires  and  the  Entente 
Powers  indiscriminately.  Whether  this  will  be  the 
last  and  the  least  successful  step  of  the  Bolshevist 
scheme,  or  the  first  one  in  some  new  series  of  coming 
events,  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  and  useless  to  foretell. 
But  for  anyone  who  wishes  clearly  to  trace  consecutive 
events,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  firmly  in  mind  their 
development  by  way  of  the  five  stages  mentioned. 
They  may  be  classified  as  follows  : 

(1)  The     disruption    of     the    Second    "  Inter- 
national "  ; 

(2)  The    Zimmerwald-Kienthal    doctrine    as    a 
basis   for   the  Third,  the  "  revolutionary  "  Inter- 
national ; 

(3)  The  Bolshevist  advent  in  Russia  ; 

(4)  Brest-Litovsk — a  temporary  eclipse  of  Bol- 
shevist schemes  for  Europe  ;  and 

(5)  A  renewed  Bolshevist  attack  on  the  hour- 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  51 

geoisie  and  democracy  in  Europe,  through  the  inter- 
mediary of  European  "  Spartacists." 

The  international  aspect  of  Bolshevism  can  be  clearly 
seen  in  this  connection. 

It  is  necessary  to  write  a  book  in  order  to  collect 
the  overwhelming  evidence  which  may  be  adduced  as 
a  proof  of  the  statements  made.  Lacking  the  space,  I 
may  be  permitted  to  give  a  few  hints  and  illustrations 
as  to  the  chief  points  of  the  whole  story. 

i.  THE  ATTEMPTS  TO  USE  THE  "  SECOND 
INTERNATIONAL  "  (1914-15). 

It  begins,  in  1914,  with  a  series  of  unsuccessful 
attempts,  backed  by  the  German  Social  Democrats,  to 
organize  a  meeting  of  Socialist  representatives  of  all 
countries,  in  order  to  discuss  the  question  of  peace, 
on  the  basis  of  the  status  quo  (all  these  attempts  are 
posterior  to  the  battle  of  the  Marne).  The  Italian  and 
Swiss  Socialists,  Turati  and  Greulich,  were  first  to 
formulate  a  proposal  to  this  effect  at  their  Congress, 
at  Lugano,  on  September  22, 1914.  The  Dutch  Socialist, 
Troelstra,  succeeded  in  moving  the  International  Socialist 
Bureau  to  Amsterdam,  in  place  of  Brussels,  and  the 
reorganized  Bureau,  with  the  full  approval  of  the  German 
Government,  proposed  to  convoke  an  International 
Socialist  Congress  at  the  Hague.  The  French  Adminis- 
trative Committee  of  the  party  refused  to  attend ; 
the  Independent  Labour  Party  nominated  Mr.  A. 
Henderson  as  its  representative.  The  Congress  did 
not  meet.  At  that  time  a  meeting  of  Revolutionary 
Syndicalists  in  France  proposed  to  remove  the  centre 


52    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

of  the  Syndicalist  International  from  Berlin  to  Berne 
("  as  Germany  might  object  to  the  choice  of  a  purely 
Latin  centre  " — Geneva  is  meant).  The  President  of 
this  centre,  Legien,  proposed  to  summon  an  Inter- 
national Congress  of  Syndicalists  in  Amsterdam.  This 
time  it  was  the  turn  of  the  English  Syndicalists  to 
refuse.  In  January  1915  the  Internationalists  scored 
a  partial  success.  A  conference  of  neutral  Socialists 
met  on  January  I2th  in  Copenhagen ;  English  and 
French  Socialists  were  also  asked  to  come,  but  not  the 
Belgians,  who  were  reputed  to  be  irrevocably  national. 
There  was  a  tinge  of  international  extremism  in  the 
resolutions  voted  by  this  Congress,  so  far  as  general 
statements  were  concerned,  but  no  decisions  on  tactics 
were  taken.  A  new  tournee  by  the  Italian  Morgari 
(May  1915)  to  Berne,  Paris,  and  London  was  again  a 
failure,  with  the  exception  that  the  existence  of  Ex- 
tremist minorities  was  proved  in  France  and  Belgium. 
After  an  equally  unsuccessful  attempt  by  the  Swiss 
party  administration  to  convoke,  not  a  Congress,  but 
a  meeting  of  the  International  Socialist  Bureau  repre- 
sentative of  all  countries,  the  Swiss  tried  to  summon  a 
Conference  in  Zurich  for  May  3oth.  The  greater  maj  ority 
of  Socialist  parties  invited  did  not  reply  at  all  or  sent 
negative  answers.  Then  a  new  start  was  made  by  the 
Central  Committee  of  the  Italian  party,  which,  on  May  15, 
1915,  decided  to  address  itself  exclusively  to  such 
groups  and  parties  as  were  likely  to  adopt  the  views 
of  extreme  internationalism,  namely  to  "  oppose  the 
policy  of  internal  peace  and  to  promote  a  combined 
and  simultaneous  movement  of  the  Socialists  of  different 
countries  against  the  war,  on  the  basis  of  the  proletarian 
class  war."  A  preliminary  meeting  of  the  initiators, 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  53 

held  in  Berne  on  July  nth,  determined  more  precisely 
the  aims  and  the  methods  to  be  approved  by  the  pro- 
posed Conference.  The  Labour  Leader  endorsed  the 
opinion  of  this  particular  group,  and  thus  has  marked 
for  England  the  passage  from  the  first  stage  of  the 
Extremist  propaganda  to  the  second.  "  We  should 
prefer  by  far  to  see  the  old  International  reconstituted," 
the  organ  of  the  Independent  Labour  Party  says  on 
August  12,  1915  ;  "  but  if  it  is  impossible,  we  agree  with 
the  Italian  comrades  that  direct  efforts  must  be  tried 
in  order  to  build  a  new  International  representing  neutral 
parties  and  anti-war  Socialists  of  belligerent  countries." 
This,  indeed,  had  been  attempted  on  September  5-8, 
1915,  at  Zimmerwald  (a  Swiss  village  near  Berne),  and 
which  was  nearly  achieved  half  a  year  later,  on  April 
27-30,  1916,  at  Kienthal  (another  Swiss  village).  The 
initiators  had  good  reason  to  conceal  their  conferences 
from  a  too  close  observation  by  Governments  and 
public  opinion,  and  they  purposely  avoided  meeting 
in  larger  centres.  They  attained  their  aim.  The 
mysterious  names  of  Zimmerwald  and  Kienthal  have 
since  become  slogans  of  Extremist  revolutionary  pro- 
paganda the  world  over,  modest  and  insignificant  as 
the  beginning  had  been. 

2.  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  "  THIRD  INTERNATIONAL  "  AND 
ITS  SPREAD  IN  1916. 

Only  the  Italian  and  Rumanian  Socialist  parties  were 
officially  represented  at  Zimmerwald.  The  Independent 
Labour  Party  as  well  as  the  British  Socialist  party 
accepted  the  invitation,  but  were  prevented  from  attend- 
ing by  the  Government,  which  refused  passports  to 


54    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Messrs.  Jowett  and  Bruce  Glasier.  The  Swiss  party 
permitted  its  members  to  be  present  personally,  but 
only  later,  at  the  Congress  of  Aarau,  identified  itself 
with  the  decisions  taken  at  Zimmerwald.  The  French, 
German,  and  Belgian  Majority  Socialists  were  not  even 
asked  to  participate,  "  owing  to  their  present  attitude." 
Individual  French  and  German  Socialists  were  present  : 
the  former  without  the  permission,  the  latter  with  the 
permission  of  their  Governments.  They  even  published, 
while  at  the  Congress,  a  joint  declaration,  in  order  to 
state  publicly  that  "  this  war  was  not  their  war." 
The  renowned  formula  of  a  "  peace  without  annexations 
on  the  basis  of  self-determination  of  peoples  "  first 
made  its  appearance  in  this  declaration.  But  the  chief 
feature  of  the  Zimmerwald  Conference  was  the  pre- 
dominance in  it  of  Eastern-European  Socialists  : 
Russians,  Poles,  Letts,  Rumanians,  and  Bulgarians. 
These  were  also  the  elements  representing  the  "  left 
wing  "  of  Zimmerwald.  Such  notorious  Bolsheviks  as 
Lenin,  Rakovsky,  Ganetsky,  and  Radek  were  among 
the  chief  promoters  of  the  Zimmerwald  resolutions, 
along  with  Martov  (Zederbaum),  P.  Axelrod,  Chernov, 
and  Lapinsky.  They  did  not  succeed,  however,  in 
inducing  the  Conference  straightway  to  accept  in  its 
whole  purport  their  revolutionary  doctrine.  The 
amendments  of  the  extreme  wing  were  rejected,  on  the 
ground  that  the  new  tactics  proposed  had  not  been 
put  on  the  programme  and  previously  discussed  ;  while 
their  acceptance  by  the  Conference  might  disrupt 
internationalist  elements  which  otherwise  would  cling 
together.  But  even  the  statements  made  unanimously 
by  the  Conference  were  sufficient  to  stamp  its  resolu- 
tions as  extremist  and  revolutionary,  and  to  differentiate 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  55 

its  members  not  only  from  "  Socialist  patriots,"  but 
even  from  the  so-called  "  centre  "  (Kautsky,  Haase, 
and  the  group  of  "  Arbeitsgemeinschaft  "  in  Germany — 
all  of  them  belonging  to  the  "  Minority,"  as  well  as 
Longuet  and  Pressemane  in  France).  The  "  right 
wing "  of  the  Zimmerwald  Conference,  in  fact,  did 
gravitate  to  this  "  centre,"  but  it  was  overawed  by  the 
exponents  of  extreme  tendencies. 

The  three  salient  points  in  the  "  Zimmerwald  Mani- 
festo "  are  as  follows  : 

1.  The  responsibility  for  the  war  is  not  to  be  thrown 

upon  Germany,  but  upon — 

the  ruling  forces  of  the  capitalist  society  in  whose  hands 
the  destinies  of  peoples  have  rested — monarchical  as  well  as 
republican  Governments,  secret  diplomacy,  powerful  combines 
of  employers,  bourgeois  parties,  capitalist  Press,  Churches — all 
these  agents  bear  the  full  burden  of  responsibility  for  this  war, 
which  has  originated  in  the  social  order  preserved  by  them 
and  nourishing  them,  and  which  is  being  now  carried  on  in  their 
interests. 

2.  The  war  aims  :    not  national  victory,  but — 

the  struggle  for  "  Socialism,"  for  peace  without  annexations 
and  contributions,  which  is  possible  only  on  the  condition  of 
the  repudiation  of  all  desire  for  violating  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  peoples.  (Then  follows  the  formula  of  the  declaration  isued 
by  the  French  and  German  members  of  the  Conference.) 

3.  The  aim  of  the  Conference  is  not  only  to  bring 

about  peace,  but — 

in  view  of  the  intolerable  situation  (created  by  the  suspension 
of  the  class  war  by  the  Socialist  patriots,  who  not  only  vote 
war  credits,  but  take  part  in  the  Governments'  propaganda 
amongst  the  neutrals,  and  even  become  "  hostages  of  national 
unity,"  as  Ministers  in  War  Cabinets),  we  who  have  put  our- 


56    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

selves  not  on  the  ground  of  national  solidarity  with  the  class 
of  employers,  but  on  the  ground  of  the  international  solidarity 
of  the  proletariat  and  of  class  war,  met  in  order  to  re-establish 
international  bonds  torn  asunder,  and  to  call  the  working  class 
to  recollect  their  duty  towards  themselves.  .  .  .  Proletarians  ! 
At  the  beginning  of  the  war  we  gave  our  working  power,  our 
courage,  our  endurance  to  the  service  of  the  ruling  classes. 
Now  we  must  begin  a  struggle  for  our  own  cause,  for  the  sacred 
aim  of  Socialism,  for  the  liberation  of  oppressed  peoples  and 
enslaved  classes  by  means  of  an  uncompromising  proletarian 
class  war.  . 


What  remained,  then,  for  the  "  left  wing  "  to  sub- 
scribe to  more  than  that  ?  The  Russians,  the  Poles,  and 
"  comrade  "  Radek  wished  the  manifesto  to  state  in  a 
more  outspoken  way  that  no  real  peace  was  possible 
unless  the  very  basis  of  the  social  structure  is  changed, 
and  that  one  must  accordingly  "  attack  the  very 
foundations  of  society  "  without  waiting  any  longer 
for  the  results  of  the  "  imperialistic  stage  "  to  develop 
in  full.  '  The  struggle  for  peace  must  simultaneously 
be  a  revolutionary  struggle  against  capitalism." 

Owing  to  the  indecision  of  the  more  judicious  section 
of  the  Conference,  the  formal  call  to  mutiny  was  omitted 
from  the  text  of  the  manifesto  ;  but  it  still  remained 
there  so  far  as  the  spirit  of  the  manifesto  is  concerned. 
The  members  of  the  Conference  did  not  wish,  for  the 
same  reason,  to  make  a  show  of  organizing  a  new 
International ;  but  they  left  behind  them  a  nucleus  of 
the  new  organization,  the  "  International  Socialist  Com- 
mission at  Berne,"  whose  President  was  to  be  the  notori- 
ous Robert  Grimm,  a  man  who  knew  how  to  combine 
"  extremely  Radical  declarations  with  an  entirely 
opportunist  practice."  As,  for  the  time  being,  "  ex- 
tremely Radical  declarations  "  were  all  that  were  wanted 
for  the  Extremist  propaganda,  Grimm  was  the  right 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  57 

man,  particularly  if  led  by  one  of  the  Oriental 
throng,  the  "  Italian  "  of  Russian  descent,  Angelica 
Balabanova. 

The  I.S.C.  at  Berne  has  complete!  everything  that 
was  missed  by  Lenin  in  Zimmerwald,  while  speaking 
always  in  the  name  of  the  "  second  Zimmerwald  Con- 
ference "  at  Kienthal — which  was  even  more  mysterious 
than  the  first  one.  The  amendment  of  the  first  Con- 
ference was  expanded  into  the  glowing  appeal  of  May  i, 
1916,  to  the  "  conquest  of  political  power  and  abro- 
gation of  private  property  by  the  working  class  "  as 
the  "  only  means  to  prevent  war  in  future,"  and  to 
the  struggle  by  "  all  means  at  their  disposal "  for 
"  immediate  peace  without  annexations." 

The  resolution  of  the  Kienthal  Conference  declared 
that  all  demands  of  the  "  bourgeois  or  Socialist  pacifism," 
such  as  limitation  of  armaments,  obligatory  arbitration, 
and  even  the  building  up  of  "  small  nations  "  into 
States,  are  nothing  but  "  new  illusions,"  and  that 
the  only  "  durable  "  peace  can  be  attained  by  the 
Socialist  upheaval.  Moreover,  the  Kienthal  Conference 
— or  the  I.S.C.  at  Berne  in  its  name — declared  the  former 
Executive  Committee  of  the  I.S.B.  at  the  Hague  guilty 
of  "  National  Socialism,"  and  put  it  under  the  close 
supervision  of  the  "  organizations  which  joined  the 
I.S.C.  at  Berne."  For  these  a  special  "  discipline  " 
was  proclaimed  necessary,  which  put  them  "  above  all 
other  party  duties."  "  The  nationalist  sections  of  the 
internationalist  proletariat  who  have  forgotten  their 
supreme  duty,  by  this  very  fact,  set  free  their  members 
from  every  obligation  towards  them." 

Here  was  the  "  Third  International  "  in  a  nutshell. 
Its  doctrine  and  the   nucleus  of  its  organization  were 


58    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

now  ready.  It  was  the  time  to  put  its  propaganda  in 
hand  and  for  its  practical  application. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  during  1916  a  great  success 
was  scored  by  that  propaganda  in  all  the  countries  of 
Europe.  Curiously  enough,  this  success  was  particularly 
obvious  and  strong  in  the  very  country  which  tried  to 
use  Revolutionary  Socialism  as  a  war  weapon,  i.e. 
Germany.  As  a  sequel  to  the  Kienthal  decisions 
typewritten  letters,  composed  by  different  authors, 
but  signed  by  the  same  pseudonym  of  "  Spartacus  " 
(especially  ascribed  to  Liebknecht),  began  to  be  secretly 
circulated  within  a  carefully  chosen  circle  of  confidential 
correspondents.  They  were  chiefly  directed,  not  against 
the  "  Socialist  patriots,"  but  against  the  more  Radical 
group  which  formed  the  "  right  wing  "  at  Zimmerwald, 
the  so-called  "  centre."  Such  attacks  quite  coincide 
with  Lenin's  advice  in  his  memorandum  to  the  Swiss 
Party  (end  1916).  Lenin  qualifies  there  the  conciliatory 
attitude  of  Kautsky  and  Haase,  and  even  of  the  seven- 
teen Extreme  members  of  the  Reichstag,  as  being  an 
"  obstacle  to  the  Revolutionary  Social  Democracy," 
"  which  ties  their  hands,  impedes  the  free  display  of 
their  action,  and  thus  discourages  the  masses  by  a 
lack  of  consistency  between  principles  and  practice." 

At  that  very  time  the  question  had  been  raised 
in  the  Reichstag  and  in  the  country  about  the  coming 
split  between  Parliamentary  and  Revolutionary  Social- 
ism, and  the  "  central  "  elements  were  thwarting  the 
decision.  The  split  was  finally  achieved  in  January 
1917,  owing  to  the  aggressive  attitude  of  the  Majority 
Socialists,  who  ejected  from  the  party  such  members 
and  local  organizations  as  agreed  with  the  resolutions 
of  a  Minority  Conference  of  January  7th,  held  in  Berlin. 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  59 

The  new  Minority  Conference  at  Gotha,  April  6-8, 
had  decided  to  organize  a  new  "  Independent  S.D. 
Party."  The  "  Spartacus  "  group  took  part  in  it,  while 
the  other  Extremist  section,  the  "  International  Social- 
ists," remained  outside.  The  influence  of  the  Russian 
Revolution  on  the  organization  and  activity  of  the  new 
party  is  quite  obvious.  Its  popularity  among  the 
masses  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  while  the 
membership  of  the  old  party  decreased  in  the  six  months 
following  the  creation  of  the  new  party  from  243,061 
to  150,000,  the  numbers  of  the  paying  members  of  the 
Independent  Party  amounted  at  the  same  date  (Sep- 
tember 1917)  to  120,000. 

Serious  attempts  at  propagating  the  Zimmerwald- 
Kienthal  doctrine  and  tactics  were  also  made  in  the 
Entente  countries.  Here  also  they  have  not  achieved 
the  complete  victory  of  revolutionary  extremism,  but 
they  have  strengthened  extreme  tendencies,  and  thus 
have  made  necessary  a  move  to  the  left  in  the  general 
attitude  of  the  parties.  Bourderon — one  of  the  two 
French  representatives  at  Zimmerwald — on  his  return 
to  France,  proceeded  to  ask  the  Seine  Federation  to 
recall  Socialist  Ministers  from  the  Cabinet,  to  dissolve 
the  "  sacred  union,"  to  refuse  war  credits,  and  to  blame 
the  Parliamentary  fraction  and  the  administrative  organ 
of  the  party  for  their  tactics.  Then  M.  Longuet,  the 
leader  of  the  Minority,  who,  too,  had  visited  Switzer- 
land and  had  seen  Bernstein  and  Kautsky,  declared 
that  "  without  Internationalism  there  can  be  no  Social- 
ism," and  demanded  the  re-establishment  of  relations 
with  all  sections  of  the  International,  including  German 
Social  Democracy.  The  number  of  mandates  to  the 
National  Congress  received  by  the  representatives  of 


60    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

the  three  currents  of    French  Socialism  represented  in 
figures  their  comparative  strength  : 

Mandates.  Votes. 

Majority  (Renaudel)  ..          ..     26  6,121 

Minority  (Longuet)  . .          . .      16  3,826 

Extremists  (Bourderon)      . .          . .       2  545 

At  the  Congress,  in  order  to  prevent  disunion,  the 
Majority  had  to  accept  a  conciliatory  formula  (Renaudel- 
Longuet),  which  was  then  carried  by  an  overwhelming 
majority  ;  but  the  Minority  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
concessions  given.  The  opposition  to  the  initial  attitude 
of  "  sacred  union  "  with  the  bourgeoisie  for  the  aims  of 
"  national  defence  "  was  increasing  throughout  1916, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  1917,  under  the  influence  of 
the  propaganda  directed  by  the  new  "  travellers  "  to 
Kienthal — members  of  the  House  Brizon,  Raffin- 
Dugens  and  Al.  Blanc.  Attempts  had  been  made  to 
disseminate  anti-war  views  in  the  army.  The  National 
Congress  at  the  end  of  1916  was  to  be  held  behind  closed 
doors,  and  this  precautionary  measure  proved  opportune, 
if  one  may  judge  by  an  incident  which  leaked  out  and 
produced  the  impression  of  a  scandal  when  it  appeared 
in  the  Press.  When  M.  Goude,  himself  a  member  of 
the  Minority,  pronounced  from  the  tribune  the  words  : 
"  I  am  an  eager  partisan  of  national  defence,  we  all 
agree  to  it,"  somebody  cried  out  :  "  No  !  "  The  great 
majority  of  the  audience  supported  the  protest  with 
frantic  applause.  All  the  resolutions  of  the  party  in 
1916  reflect  this  growing  spirit  of  criticism  and  oppo- 
sition. French  Socialists  grew  more  impatient  to  learn 
from  the  Government  its  "  war  aims,"  in  order  that 
the  war  might  not  "  be  protracted  "  owing  to  some 
aggressive  aims.  They  now  wanted  the  war  to  be 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  61 

finished  "  as  soon  as  possible."  They  do  not  wish  to 
crush  Germany  or  to  ruin  her  economically.  They 
asked  the  Government  to  be  "  on  the  watch,  and  not 
to  let  pass  any  serious  possibility  of  making  peace." 
They  even  appeal  to  "  representatives  of  all  belligerent 
countries  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon  their  Govern- 
ments "  in  order  to  force  them  to  renounce  "  annexa- 
tionist  tendencies."  To  be  sure,  they  repudiate  the 
Zimmerwald-Kienthal  doctrine,  and  they  persist  in 
asking  German  Socialists  for  preliminary  explanations 
of  principles  before  any  personal  meeting  and  discussion 
with  them  at  some  international  gathering.  But  they 
prepare  for  the  possibility  of  such  a  meeting  on  Inter- 
nationalist lines,  while  breaking  one  by  one  the  ties 
of  the  "  sacred  union."  Their  unwillingness  to  share 
in  ministerial  responsibility  steadily  grows  ;  they  give 
notice  to  the  Government  of  their  intention  to  withdraw 
their  representatives  from  the  Cabinet ;  and,  indeed, 
Sembat  did  not  enter  the  new  Cabinet  of  Briand 
(November  1916).  Albert  Thomas  remained,  but  the 
decision  of  the  National  Congress  of  December  1916 
to  this  effect  was  adopted  only  by  1,637  votes  against 
1,282  given  to  two  other  motions.  Thomas  is  asked 
"  vigorously  to  ensure  the  national  defence,"  but  .  .  . 
"  in  order  to  obtain  the  rapid  end  of  the  war  for  a  peace 
which  must  be  a  triumph  of  justice."  In  short,  to 
state  it  in  the  words  of  their  political  opponent,  Maurras, 
the  French  Majority  Socialists  "  have  yielded  to  the 
menaces  of  their  dissenters  in  everything  that  was  asked 
for  by  these  imperious  schismatics,  and  the  official 
organ  of  the  patriotic  majority  has,  in  fact,  served  to 
propagate  the  ideas  of  the  Minority.  One  dreamt  of 
disarming  them  with  concessions,  but  one  was  simply 


62    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

recruiting  for  them  their  adepts,  their  adherents,  their 
zealous  followers." 

Thus  the  Majority  paved  the  way  to  the  final  vic- 
tory of  the  Minority,  which  actually  took  place  later, 
under  the  influence  of  the  Russian  Revolution. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  expatiate  upon  the  fact 
that  the  same  conversion  has  taken  place  in  public 
opinion  of  England.  The  only  difference  was  perhaps 
that,  owing  to  the  comparative  weakness  of  Socialism 
proper  in  this  country,  the  anti-war  and  pro-"  Inter- 
national "  propaganda  here  took  to  the  less  offensive 
watchword  of  "  Pacifism,"  and  that  its  teaching, 
primarily  confined  to  a  small  group  of  idealists,  only 
lately  and  slowly  has  evolved  into  a  demagogic  campaign 
by  class  war  protagonists.  Of  course,  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  war  even  here  there  was  no  lack  of 
direct  German  influences,  together  with  idealistic  and 
religious  motives,  working  for  socialistic  solutions  and 
"  conscientious  objections  "  to  war. 

As  early  as  April  1915,  at  the  Congress  of  Norwich, 
Messrs.  Keir  Hardie,  Jowett,  Bruce  Glasier,  and  others 
had  already  spoken  for  the  benefit  of  German 
"  comrades  "  against  .  .  .  British  .  .  .  imperialism  and 
militarism  ;  they  already  advocated  direct  international 
socialistic  action  for  immediate  peace.  The  Congress 
decided  that  Socialists  must  renounce  fighting,  even  in 
case  of  enemy  invasion,  and  by  243  votes  to  9  they 
carried  a  vote  of  condemnation  of  the  Labour  party 
for  its  participation  in  the  recruiting  campaign.  But 
it  is  particularly  in  the  second  half  of  1916  that  the 
so-called  (unjustly)  "  Pacifist  "  propaganda  began  to 
influence  larger  circles  of  public  opinion.  Anyhow, 
when  the  Russian  Revolution  broke  out  in  March  1917 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  68 

there  existed  a  ready  current  of  sympathy  for  its  most 
extreme  achievements. 


3.  THE  FIRST  VICTORY  OF  INTERNATIONAL  EXTREMISM 
— IN  THE  RUSSIAN   REVOLUTION. 

There  were  two  Russian  Revolutions  which  were 
quite  dissimilar  :  that  of  March  and  that  of  November 
1917.  The  first  was  national  and  patriotic,  and  was 
led  by  the  Duma  representatives.  The  second  was 
due  to  the  Internationalist  propaganda,  introduced 
into  Russia  from  the  outside.  It  was  led  by  the  group 
of  Russian  refugees  we  know,  and  it  was  strongly 
supported  by  International  Socialists,  not  only  of 
extreme,  but  also  of  more  moderate  description.  The 
national  Revolution  of  March  originated  in  a  strong 
pro-war  sentiment  which  had  brought  Russian  public 
opinion  to  the  conclusion  that  no  victory  could  be  won 
under  autocratic  rule,  suspected  of  pro-Germanism. 
The  Extremist  (Bolshevist)  Revolution  of  November 
was  "  Defeatist  "  in  its  origin,  and  it  won  the  victory 
in  Russia  for  the  Zimmerwald  and  Kienthal  International 
doctrine. 

Why  is  it  that  Russia  of  all  countries  has  become 
a  field  for  social  experiment  ?  Many  causes  peculiar 
to  Russia  combine  to  make  this  country  particularly 
receptive  of  the  Extremist  international  propaganda. 
"  Defeatism  "  was  in  Russia  not  the  result  of  recent 
anti-militarist  and  anti-patriotic  propaganda,  but  an 
old  tradition  amongst  intellectuals,  contracted  during 
many  decades  of  years  of  struggle  against  the  Auto- 
cracy. Lenin  only  tried  to  make  use  of  that  old  habit 
when  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  he  began  his  Defeatist 


64    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

propaganda.  "  As  things  actually  are,"  he  says,  in 
October  1914,  in  his  organ  published  at  Geneva,  "it  is 
impossible,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  international 
proletariat,  to  say  which  would  be  the  lesser  evil  for 
Socialism,  an  Austro-German  defeat  or  a  Franco-Russo- 
English  defeat.  But  for  us,  Russian  Social  Democrats, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  working  classes  and  of  the  toiling  masses  of  all  the 
Russian  peoples,  the  lesser  evil  would  be  a  defeat  of 
the  Tsarist  monarchy.  .  .  .  We  cannot  ignore  the  fact 
that  this  or  that  issue  of  the  military  operations  will 
facilitate  or  render  more  difficult  our  work  of  liberation 
in  Russia.  And  we  say  :  '  Yes,  we  hope  for  the  defeat 
of  Russia  because  it  will  facilitate  the  internal  victory 
of  Russia — the  abolition  of  her  slavery,  her  liberation 
from  the  chains  of  Tsarism.'  '  Thus  the  particularly 
Russian  Extremist  point  of  view  seemed  to  coincide 
with  "  the  point  of  view  of  the  international  prole- 
tariat." To  be  sure,  the  aims  of  the  international 
proletariat — namely,  "  Revolutionary  Socialism  " — had 
been  formulated,  as  we  have  just  pointed  out,  under 
the  strong  influence  of  Russian  abstract  dogmatism. 
The  doctrine  of  pure  "  class  war  "  developed  particularly 
and  took  a  refined  shape  in  hotbeds  of  Russian  emigres 
circles,  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  endless  disputes  of 
a  few  intellectuals  specially  trained  in  Marx's  teachings. 
In  a  sense,  Bolshevism  was  the  peculiar  product  of 
Russian  culture,  grafted  on  International  Socialism, 
before  it  was  reimported  to  Russia.  According  to 
Marxists  themselves,  the  Russian  soil  was  not  prepared 
for  an  early  experiment  in  Socialism.  To  state  it  in 
Lenin's  own  terms  (in  his  leaflet  on  Two  Tactics,  published 
in  Geneva  1905)  :  "  Whoever  wants  to  try  any  path 


65 

to  Socialism  other  than  political  Democracy,  he  will 
inevitably  come  to  absurd  and  reactionary  conclusions 
both  in  an  economical  and  a  political  sense.  If  some 
workmen  ask  us,  '  Why  not  achieve  the  maximum 
programme  ?  '  we  shall  answer  them  by  pointing  out  just 
how  alien  to  Socialism  the  democratic  masses  are,  how 
undeveloped  the  class  contradictions,  how  unorganized 
the  proletarians.  Just  try  to  organize  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  workmen  all  over  Russia  !  Try  to  teach 
millions  to  sympathize  with  your  programme  !  Try 
to  do  that  without  limiting  yourself  to  sonorous  but 
empty  anarchical  phrases,  and  you  will  see  at  once 
that  the  largest  possible  realization  of  democratic 
reforms  is  necessary  and  requisite  for  the  spreading 
of  socialistic  enlightenment,  and  for  introducing  appro- 
priate organization." 

This  is  all  very  wise,  but  this  sound  reasoning  was 
invariably  thrown  overboard  at  the  moment  of  revo- 
lutionary outbreaks.  Were  not,  indeed,  these  outbreaks 
chiefly  due  to  that  very  unpreparedness  of  the  masses, 
which  precluded  in  advance  the  possibility  of  any  last- 
ing result  ?  Was  it  not  that  very  lack  of  organization 
and  of  the  political  education  of  the  masses  which  made 
them  blindly  believe  in  the  Bolshevists'  promises  and 
follow  their  demagogical  lead  ?  Revolutionary  Social- 
ism repudiated  State  institutions ;  but  the  Russian 
peasants  have  never  learnt  to  defer  to  the  State.  They 
were,  so  to  say,  born  anarchists,  and  Tolstoy  reflects 
very  adequately  the  soul  of  the  Russian  peasant. 
Revolutionary  Socialism  preached  class  war  and  hatred 
of  superior  social  strata.  But  in  Russia  the  upper 
social  layers  were  of  comparatively  recent  origin  ;  to 
a  large  extent  they  owed  their  privileged  position  to 

5 


66    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

the  State,  and  were  bound  to  yield  even  to  a  gentle 
pressure  from  below.  Revolutionary  Socialism  exe- 
crated "  imperialism  "  and  "  nationalism  "  ;  but  the 
Russian  masses  simply  did  not  know  anything  about 
the  international  situation.  They  were  unable  to 
consider  the  interests  of  the  State  as  a  whole,  and  as 
opposed  to  the  interests  of  other  State  units.  They 
practically  had  not  yet  reached  the  stage  of  conscious 
nationalism  and  patriotism. 

To  speak  to  these  masses  about  "  war  aims  "  was 
labour  lost ;  but  they  understood  the  weariness  of 
war  exertions  and  the  hardships  of  life  in  the  trenches. 
They  did  not  understand  a  word  of  the  so-called  "  demo- 
cratic "  formula  about  "  annexations "  and  "  contri- 
butions "  and  "  self-determination,"  but  they  only  too 
well  understood  what  "  immediate  peace "  meant ; 
while  "  fraternization  "  with  the  enemy  in  the  trenches 
was  quite  easy  for  men  who  had  learnt  to  hate  the  name 
of  "  German,"  but  proved  unable  to  connect  that 
abstract  idea  with  people  who,  after  a  laborious  day  of 
warfare,  treated  them  to  vodka  and  schnapps  and  called 
them  "  brethren."  When,  into  the  bargain,  they  were 
promised  the  long-hoped-for  "  partition  "  of  the  land 
as  soon  as  as  they  returned  home,  it  was  easy  to  under- 
stand that  desertion  from  the  ranks,  in  order  to  reach 
home  first,  was  not  at  all  considered  to  be  a  disgrace 
and  a  crime. 

After  all,  in  spite  of  what  is  said,  the  war — perhaps 
for  the  first  time  in  Russian  history — was,  at  the  be- 
ginning widely  popular,  and  Russian  Socialists  were 
forced  to  acknowledge  the  fact.  Berlin  newspapers 
were  publishing  telegrams  about  "  Revolution  in 
Russia  "  during  the  first  days  of  the  war.  Far  from 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  67 

this  being  true,  a  strike  which — perhaps  not  without 
German  "  material  help  " — was  about  to  start  was  at 
once  stopped  by  the  workmen  themselves  as  soon  as 
war  broke  out.  "  Unlike  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  the 
present  war  has  become  popular  among  the  masses," 
a  Social  Democratic  report  stated  to  the  Conference  in 
Copenhagen.  "  A  great  majority  of  Russian  citizens," 
says  the  Russian  correspondent  of  a  German  Socialist 
newspaper  (Leipziger  Volkszeitung),  "  and  among  them 
many  Social  Democrats,  are  convinced  that  Germany 
is  waging  an  aggressive  war  .  .  .  the  war  is  becoming 
more  and  more  popular  in  Russia  .  .  .  the  present 
situation  bears  no  resemblance  to  that  which  existed 
ten  years  ago.  The  war  was  then  a  dynastic 
war,  while  to-day  we  are  witnessing  a  people's 
war." 

"  There  is  no  desire  that  Russia  should  be  defeated 
to  be  observed  among  the  working  classes,"  states 
another  correspondent  of  the  Russian  Social  Democratic 
newspaper  in  Paris. 

However,  the  socialistic  fractions  of  the  Duma  at 
once  differentiated  themselves  from  their  European 
comrades  by  abstaining  from  the  vote  of  war  credits. 
Later  on,  the  idea  of  Zimmerwald  was  accepted  by  all 
Russian  Socialists  :  Kerensky,  Tsereteli,  and  Tshkeidse 
called  themselves  Zimmerwaldians.  Five  working  men 
deputies  of  the  Social  Democratic  fraction  of  the  Duma 
were  found  in  possession  of  a  draft  of  a  Defeatist  reso- 
lution drawn  up  by  Lenin.  They  were  put  on  their 
trial  and  condemned  to  deportation  to  Siberia.  This 
only  made  things  worse.  As  early  as  1916  a  Defeatist 
propaganda  was  rife  among  workmen  and  in  the  army, 
as  well  as  among  the  prisoners  of  war  in  Germany. 


68    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

A  Russian  newspaper,  the  Russian  Messenger,  published 
in  Berlin,  was  regularly  smuggled  into  the  Russian 
trenches.  I  personally,  as  a  member  of  the  Duma, 
received  many  letters  from  soldiers  at  the  front  which 
proved  that  the  demoralization  of  the  army  had  already 
begun  before  the  Revolution  of  March  1917. 

Revolution  became  unavoidable  in  Russia  after  the 
autumn  of  1915,  when  the  Tsar  ignored  the  last  attempt 
of  the  Duma  majority  to  bridge  the  chasm  between 
him  and  public  opinion  by  working  out  a  moderately 
progressive  programme  and  nominating  a  Ministry 
"  enjoying  the  confidence  of  the  country."  Moreover, 
he  dismissed,  one  by  one,  the  eight  members  of  the 
Cabinet  (among  them  Mr.  Sazonov)  who  were  inclined 
to  adopt  a  conciliatory  attitude,  and  he  put  in  their 
place  unswerving  reactionaries.  On  the  other  hand, 
public  opinion  became  more  radical,  and  would  not 
be  satisfied  with  anything  less  than  a  Parliamentary 
regime.  Revolutionary  and  republican  tendencies  began 
to  take  root. 

A  revolutionary  overthrow  during  the  war  was  by 
itself  almost  equivalent  to  a  catastrophe.  It  is  easy 
to  understand  that  the  more  experienced  politicians 
could  not  at  once  decide  to  join  hands  with  the  revolu- 
tionaries ;  but  the  Tsarist  regime  has  proved  itself 
incapable  of  organizing  national  defence,  and  it  was 
strongly  suspected  of  the  wish  to  prevent  revolution 
by  a  speedy  end  of  the  war  which  would  be  to  the  benefit 
of  the  Germans.  Revolution  was  now  becoming 
necessary  for  patriotic  reasons.  The  more  advanced 
groups  begun  to  plan  a  dynastic  overthrow.  The 
scandals  of  Court  life  under  the  influence  of  the  famous 
Rasputin  served  to  endorse  the  decision.  The  assas- 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  69 

sination  of  Rasputin  by  aristocratic  conspirators  gave 
two  months'  respite  to  the  Tsar,  but  he  was  blind  to 
the  coming  danger.  The  Tsarina  dissuaded  him  from 
making  any  concessions,  and  quoted  the  example  of 
the  French  Revolution.  The  Duma  leaders  prepared 
to  take  the  power  which  was  bound  to  fall  from  the 
hands  of  the  mad  Autocrat  into  the  hands  of  popular 
politicians.  The  Tsar  decided  to  dissolve  the  Duma. 
At  that  very  moment,  but  without  any  connection  with 
the  dissolution  of  the  Duma,  a  real  Revolution  broke 
out,  starting  from  different  sources  and  basing  itself 
on  forces  differing  from  such  as  had  been  confidently 
expected  by  the  Duma.  The  Duma  was  prepared  to 
deal  with  a  dynastic  overthrow  ;  it  was  taken  unawares, 
as  everybody  was,  including  the  Socialist  leaders,  by 
the  soldiers'  outbreak  of  March  I2th.  Yet  the  Duma 
took  the  lead,  and  by  taking  sides  with  the  Revolu- 
tion decided  its  success.  All  Russia  knew  the  names 
of  the  first  revolutionary  Ministers  and  believed  in 
them.  The  "  bloodless  "  victory  of  the  Revolution,  the 
direct  submission  of  the  army  commanders,  and  the 
hurried  resignation  of  the  Tsar — who  had  signed 
the  Act  already  prepared  in  1905 — all  this  was  due  to 
the  Duma's  participation  in  the  movement.  Thus  the 
Russian  Revolution,  as  a  whole,  has  nothing  to  do 
with  any  kind  of  international  propaganda.  Such 
German  propaganda  among  the  workmen,  or  Socialist 
and  Radical  propaganda  amongst  soldiers,  as  may 
be  traced,  cannot  account  either  for  its  deeper  causes 
or  for  its  speedy  success.  But  after  success  had  been 
achieved,  internationalist  propaganda  immediately  set 
to  work  in  order  to  steer  the  course  of  the  patriotic 
Revolution  into  the  anti-militarist  channel.  It  took 


70    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

eight  months  and  four  consecutive  changes  of  Govern- 
ment to  make  the  change  complete. 

During  the  first  two  months  the  First  Provisional 
Government  set  up  by  the  Duma  Executive  Committee 
succeeded  in  maintaining  the  "  sacred  national  unity." 
Its  first  act  was  to  declare  that  far  from  weakening 
the  military  forces  of  Russia  the  Revolution  would 
inspire  them  with  new  enthusiasm,  and  that  the  war 
would  be  prosecuted  in  complete  harmony  with  the 
Allies,  on  the  basis  of  the  existing  accords  and  treaties. 
But  on  the  very  first  day  of  the  Revolution  a  new  force 
appeared  on  the  stage  which  worked  in  the  opposite 
direction.  "  The  Council  (Soviet)  of  Workmen  and 
Soldiers  "  met  at  once  in  the  Taurida  Palace.  The 
Soviet  represented  Revolutionary  Socialism,  though  it 
disguised  itself  under  the  name  of  "  Revolutionary  " 
Democracy.  At  first  the  Soviet  did  not  claim  formal 
power,  but  it  pretended  to  "  push  "  the  Provisional 
Government,  chiefly  in  regard  to  its  military  tactics 
and  its  foreign  policy.  At  the  same  time  it  profited 
by  the  complete  political  freedom  given  by  the  Revolu- 
tion, in  order  to  make  propaganda  and  to  organize  the 
masses. 

The  whole  movement  was  led  by  men  who  evidently 
were  familiar  with  the  ideas  of  Extremist  international- 
ism and  who  fully  shared  its  aims.  Through  a  Special 
"  Committee  for  the  Contact  "  of  the  Soviet  with  the 
Government  they,  from  the  very  beginning,  tried  to 
wring  from  the  Government  decisions  necessary  for 
the  weakening  of  discipline  in  the  army,  the  grant  of 
funds  for  propaganda,  and,  finally,  urged  the  acceptance 
of  the  Zimmerwald  doctrine  in  foreign  politics.  When 
they  met  with  resistance  they  started  an  agitation 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  71 

against  the  Ministers  of  War  and  Foreign  Affairs 
(Mr.  Guchkov  and  myself).  Bolshevism  at  that  first 
period  of  the  Revolution  had  not  yet  differentiated 
itself  from  the  more  moderate  socialistic  currents, 
and  it  was  so  much  the  easier  for  it  to  keep  the 
whole  movement  in  hand.  Without  knowing  it,  the 
official  Socialist  leaders  of  the  Soviet,  who  had  won 
their  popularity  as  Duma  delegates,  Kerensky, 
Tchkeidse,  Skobelev,  etc.,  submitted  themselves  to 
the  guidance  of  more  obscure  people,  who  were 
hurriedly  coming  back  to  Petrograd  from  their 
Siberian  exile,  from  Paris,  Geneva,  London,  and  New 
York,  and  who  were  far  better  informed  regarding  the 
tactics  of  an  Internationalist  Revolution. 

Already  before  their  arrival  the  first  decisive  steps  had 
been  taken  in  the  name  of  the  Soviet  against  military 
discipline  and  against  the  further  prosecution  of  war, 
steps  which  bear  witness  to  the  initial  confusion  of 
Extremist  and  Moderate  ideas  in  the  Russian  Revo- 
lution. I  mean  the  famous  "  Prikaz  (Order)  No.  i," 
of  March  I7th,  and  the  "  Appeal  of  the  Soviet  to  the 
Peoples  of  the  Whole  World,"  of  March  27,  .1917. 

"  Prikaz  No.  i  "  gave  a  signal  by  introducing  into 
all  army  units  elected  committees  of  soldiers,  abolishing 
outward  marks  of  respect  due  to  officers,  and  controlling 
by  the  Soviets  the  possession  of  arms  and  all  "  political 
manifestations  "  by  the  army.  The  draft  of  the  Order 
made  its  appearance,  nobody  knew  where  from,  on  the 
second  day  of  the  Revolution.  The  Provisional  Govern- 
ment rejected  its  contents  and  refused  to  accept  it  as 
one  of  the  conditions  of  its  support  by  the  Soviet. 
On  the  following  morning  the  Soviet  published  it  in 
its  name,  and  although  the  publication  had  no  legal 


72    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

character,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  military 
commanders,  its  dispositions  were  enacted  first  in 
Petrograd,  then  in  Moscow,  and  finally  at  the  Front, 
in  the  ranks  of  the  fighting  army.  A  special  committee, 
presided  over  by  General  Polivanov,  the  former  War 
Minister,  expanded  it  into  what  was  called  "  The 
Soldiers'  Charter,"  and  although  the  War  Minister  of 
the  Revolution,  Mr.  Guchkov,  would  not  sign  it  and 
resigned,  "  The  Soldiers'  Charter  "  was  signed  by  his 
successor  in  office,  Mr.  Kerensky,  in  May.  It  thus 
became  "  the  last  nail  in  the  coffin  of  the  army," 
according  to  General  Alexiev,  the  then  Commander- 
in-Chief's  telling  expression. 

"  Prikaz  No.  i,"  a  representative  of  the  Soviet, 
Joseph  Goldenberg,  explained  to  M.  Claude  Anet  in 
July,  "  was  not  a  mistake,  but  a  necessity.  The  day 
we  made  the  Revolution,  we  understood  that  the  army 
would  crush  it  if  it  was  not  destroyed  itself.  We  had 
to  choose  between  the  army  and  the  Revolution,  and 
we  did  not  hesitate." 

This  is  a  crude,  but  true  statement.  In  a  sense  Mr. 
Goldenberg  was  right.  The  army,  if  left  to  itself,  would 
stifle  the  kind  of  Extremist  Revolution  he  had  in  view, 
while  for  the  first  two  months  it  was  sure  to  protect 
the  National  Revolution  headed  by  the  First  Provisional 
Government.  Evidently  Mr.  Goldenberg's  friends  knew 
very  well  what  they  were  driving  at.  The  Moderate 
Socialists  did  not  yet  realize  it,  but  they  followed  the 
lead  of  the  Extremists. 

Mr.  Goldenberg's  reasoning  was  also  extended  to 
the  problem  of  war  and  peace  in  general.  "  If  the 
Revolution  does  not  kill  the  war,  the  war  will  kill  the 
Revolution  "  ;  so  ran  the  current  formula,  not  as  yet 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  73 

adorned  with  arguments  borrowed  from  the  Zimmerwald 
ideology.  To  stop  the  war  on  the  front  from  the  inside 
a  new  and  more  systematic  propaganda  was  started 
in  the  trenches,  in  addition  to  that  from  Berlin,  as 
soon  as  the  opposition  on  the  part  of  commanding 
officers  to  the  free  admission  of  agitators  and  periodicals 
from  Petrograd  was  disposed  of.  The  increasing  in- 
fluence of  Extremist  newspapers  in  the  trenches  will 
be  seen  from  the  following  figures  of  copies,  sent  from 
Moscow  only  : 


r,                           March  a4-April.  Mayi-Junen. 

(The  Truth)  ..       7,972  copies  6,999  copies 

Soldatskaya     Pravda  (The 

Soldiers'  Truth)  ..        2,ooo        „  61,525 

Social  Democrat    .  .  ..  30,375  32,711 

Then    means  had  to  be  provided  for  stopping  the 
war  from  the  outside.     Within  a  fortnight  from  the 
beginning  of  the  Revolution  the  attention  of  the  Soviet 
was  drawn  from  military  questions  to  those  of  foreign 
politics    and    diplomacy.     A    special    Committee    for 
Foreign  Affairs  was  started  within  the  Soviet,  and  it 
was  allowed  to  have  free  telegraphic  communications 
and  its  own  service  of  diplomatic  couriers  with  Stock- 
holm.    The  whole  machinery  of  extreme  internationalist 
propaganda  as  herein  described  was  now  at  the  disposal 
of   the   Soviets—  or   rather  had   secured   a   chance   of 
profiting  by  the  Soviet  inexperience,  in  order  to  make 
a  tool  of  it.     However,  at  the  beginning,  the  Soviet 
leaders  had  the  illusion  of  leading,  and  they  were  very 
proud  to  start  on  a  new  world  mission  for  a  "  democratic 
peace  and  the  fraternity  of  nations." 

In  their   appeal  of  March   2;th   they   proclaimed  a 
new  era  of  a  "decisive  struggle  with  the  predatory 


74    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

tendencies  of  the  Governments  of  all  countries." 
"  Conscious  of  her  revolutionary  strength,  Russian 
Democracy  (the  Soviet  leaders  were  careful  to  speak, 
not  in  the  name  of  "  Socialism,"  but  in  the  name  of 
"  Democracy ")  declares  that  it  will  in  every  way 
counteract  the  predatory  politics  of  its  own  ruling 
classes,  and  it  invites  all  the  peoples  of  Europe  to 
collective  and  decisive  action  for  the  benefit  of  peace." 
"  Workmen  of  all  countries,  we  fraternally  tender  our 
hands  to  you  over  the  mountains  of  fraternal  corpses 
.  .  .  and  we  entreat  you  to  restore  and  to  corroborate 
international  unity.  ..." 

This  was  indeed  a  new  factor — and  a  new  test — in 
the  struggle  of  the  conflicting  tendencies  in  Socialism. 
The  National  Socialists  of  the  Entente  countries  at  once 
felt  their  position  extremely  endangered  by  the  blow 
which  came  from  an  Allied  country.  Their  chief 
concern  now  was  to  know  whether  the  Russian  Revolu- 
tion would  increase  or  diminish  the  chances  of  victory 
over  the  Central  Empires.  But  they  were  exceedingly 
embarrassed  in  stating  this  point  in  the  terms  of  their 
own  socialistic  terminology.  We  have  seen  how  am- 
biguous it  was  :  this  ambiguity  now  served  the  cause 
of  the  enemy.  Anyhow,  they  now  hurried  to  Russia 
in  order  to  see  for  themselves  what  was  to  be  done  to 
ward  oft  the  danger.  The  Deputies  of  Parliaments 
and  political  parties,  French,  British,  Italian,  were 
followed  by  Socialist  Ministers  of  Allied  countries : 
Albert  Thomas,  Arthur  Henderson,  Emile  Vander- 
velde.  They  came  with  the  optimistic  idea  that  a 
good  talk  with  their  Russian  "  comrades  "  would  be 
sufficient  to  edify  them  and  to  put  them  on  the  right 
path  of  wisdom,  while  the  bourgeois  leaders,  too  much 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  75 

steeped  in  their  "  old  regime "  tradition,  would  be 
easily  made  to  understand  the  necessity  of  concessions 
to  the  coming  "  Democracy  "  in  order  to  take  the  wind 
out  of  the  Extremists'  sails. 

Directly  they  arrrived  in  Russia  they  saw  at  once 
the  intrinsic  falsehood  of  their  attitude.  It  was  no 
use  talking  a  different  language  to  the  Extremists,  the 
Soviet,  the  Duma,  or  the  Government.  The  Socialist 
Ministers'  arrival  was  immediately  followed  by  an  article 
in  the  Stockholm  Politiken,  which  classified  them  as 
contaminated  by  the  "  sacred  union  "  with  bourgeois 
parties,  as  sharing  their  "  imperialism,"  and  as  coming 
to  Russia  in  order  to  force  her  to  protract  the  war  and 
to  stifle  her  Revolution.  In  the  Soviet  they  met  at 
once  with  insidious  questions  :  "  What  about  India, 
and  Ireland,  and  Morocco  ?  Why  have  no  representa- 
tives of  your  Minorities  come  with  you  ?  What  is 
your  attitude  toward  your  '  Capitalist  '  Governments  ?  " 
And  when  the  turn  of  the  delegates  came  to  put  questions 
about  the  exact  meaning  of  "  contributions "  and 
"  annexations  "  and  "  self-determination,"  and  how  to 
conciliate  all  these  slogans  of  the  "sacred  democratic" 
formula  with  war  indemnities,  with  the  disannexation 
of  Alsace-Lorraine,  and  so  on,  they  were  hardly  listened 
to  ;  they  invariably  met  with  subterfuge  and  reticence, 
and  were  politely  refused  any  definite  promise.  They 
might  have  seen  at  once  that  their  mission  had  failed. 
Instead  of  that  they  remained  week  after  week  carrying 
on  negotiations  with  the  Soviet,  "  throwing  out  the 
ballast  "  of  their  convictions,  and  seemingly  making 
the  Soviet's  ideology  their  own.  They  finally  won 
nothing,  and  on  the  eve  of  their  departure  the  three 
Socialist  Ministers  were  obliged  to  state,  in  very  strong 


76    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

language,  that  they  were  not  satisfied  with  the  result 
of  their  protracted  negotiations.  Without  even  waiting 
for  that,  the  Soviet  Committee  for  its  part  published  a 
statement  to  the  effect  that  their  pourparlers  with  the 
National  Socialist  Ministers  did  not  in  the  least  prejudice 
their  general  standpoint,  which  was  against  any  com- 
promise with  the  Governments,  and  was  entirely  for 
changing  the  war  with  the  enemy  into  a  class  war  with 
capitalism. 

Unhappily,  while  not  succeeding  in  their  own  mission, 
the  Socialist  Ministers  very  seriously  compromised  the 
success  of  the  Russian  Revolution.  They  came  to 
Russia  at  the  moment  when  the  Revolution  was  at  the 
cross-roads,  and  no  fatal  decisions  had  yet  been  taken 
by  the  Provisional  Government.  The  Soviet — at  least 
formally — recognized  the  Government  as  the  sole  legal 
power,  and  promised  it  conditional  support.  There 
was,  as  yet,  no  question  of  the  formal  responsibility 
of  the  Government  to  the  Soviet  or  to  the  political 
parties.  The  policy  of  the  First  Provisional  Government 
was  weak  and  vacillating,  but  its  moral  influence  in 
the  country  was  still  strong — much  stronger  than  that 
of  any  subsequent  Government.  Representatives  of 
the  troops  from  the  Front  came  daily  to  the  Maryinsky 
Palace,  where  the  Cabinet  held  its  meetings,  and  they 
implored  the  Government  not  to  yield  and  not  to 
share  its  power  with  the  Soviet.  The  leaders  of  the 
Soviet  themselves  were  persuaded  that  nothing  but  a 
bourgeois  Republic  was  possible  in  Russia.  Their  only 
wish  was  to  "  push  "  the  Government  in  their  direction, 
while  influencing  it  and  criticizing  it  from  the  outside. 
They  understood — particularly  Mr.  Tsereteli — that  every 
attempt  to  share  power  with  the  Government  would 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  77 

only  weaken  their  hold  upon  the  working  masses  without 
giving  more  power  either  to  themselves  or  to  the 
Cabinet.  "  Why  do  you  want  us  to  enter  the  Cabinet  ?  " 
Mr.  Tsereteli  said  to  the  partisans  of  the  idea  of  a 
"  Coalition  "  Ministry.  "  We  shall  only  impede  your 
action  while  dictating  to  you  uncompromising  decisions 
in  the  form  of  '  ultimatums/  and  in  case  you  do 
not  consent  to  them,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  leave  the 
Ministry,  thus  rousing  comment." 

The  only  alternative  was  for  themselves  to  share  in 
a  policy  of  compromise — but  this  seemed  impossible 
to  a  Russian  Socialist.  However,  French  and  British 
Socialists  had  come  from  countries  where  compromise 
was — for  the  last  three  years  particularly — the  rule  of 
socialistic  activity.  They  measured  Russia  by  their 
own  political  standard,  and  as  they  came  to  Russia 
at  the  moment  when  they  were  obliged  to  compromise 
with  their  minorities,  led  by  Longuet  and  Henderson, 
why  not  arrange  for  a  compromise  with  Tsereteli  and 
Tchkeidse,  the  Georgian  Socialists  who  had  become 
Russian  leaders  ?  Their  mistaken  idea  was  that  by 
arranging  for  a  "  Coalition  "  they  would  strengthen 
the  Government,  and  that  by  yielding  to  the  Soviet's 
Pacifism  they  would  strengthen  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
army.  It  was  M.  Albert  Thomas,  in  particular,  who 
dealt  the  final  blow  to  the  First  Provisional  Government, 
while  energetically  working  to  bring  about  the  first 
Coalition. 

The  only  Socialist  in  the  First  Government,  Mr. 
Kerensky,  who  has  just  declared  the  former  foreign 
policy  of  Russia  to  be  only  a  "  personal  opinion  "  of 
the  Foreign  Minister,  was  about  to  go  to  the  War 
Office  on  the  condition  that  he  should  try  to  overcome 


78    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

with  his  personal  influence  the  growing  demoralization 
of  the  army  and  to  force  it,  by  the  power  of  his  oratory, 
to  an  offensive  movement.  The  kind  of  official  op- 
timism which  was  then  predominant,  along  with  growing 
uneasiness,  among  the  Allied  Socialist  Ministers,  is 
characterized  in  M.  Vandervelde's  book  on  Three 
Aspects  of  the  Russian  Revolution.1 

Even  people  like  M.  Claude  Anet  were  singing  the 
praises  of  Mr.  Kerensky's  "  juvenile  courage."  In 
Russia  people  knew  Mr.  Kerensky's  deficiencies,  but 
Mr.  Kerensky  had  now  become  the  national  hero,  and 
one  began  to  hope  against  hope  that  everything  would 
be  all  right.  Only  specialists  knew  that  under  the  state 
of  mind  then  existent  in  the  army  no  offensive  was 
possible,  that  any  offensive  movement  was  bound  to 
rouse  opposition  among  the  soldiers  and  would  end  in 
a  disaster.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  women's  "  shock 
battalions  "  were  to  be  formed  as  one  of  the  measures 
to  inspire  self-confidence  and  courage  in  the  regular 
troops,  in  order  to  understand  just  how  desperate  the 
situation  was  already. 

Personally,  as  Foreign  Minister  in  the  First  Provisional 
Government,  I  was  unable  to  agree  to  the  so-called 
policy  of  "  peace  without  annexations  and  contributions, 
on  the  self-determination  principle,"  because  I  knew 
there  was  German  intrigue  and  the  spirit  of  Zimmerwald 
behind  it.  I  knew  it  was  the  first  step  to  a  separate 
peace,  because  no  general  peace  on  that  basis  was 
possible,  and  no  war  was  possible  in  Russia  after  the 
promulgation  of  a  formula  which  would  be  understood 
by  the  soldiers  as  a  promise  of  immediate  peace.  Neither 
could  I  accept  the  idea  of  a  Coalition  with  Moderate 
1  London  :  George  Allen  &  Unwin,  Ltd. 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  79 

Socialists,  because  I  knew  how  uncertain  their  tactics 
were,  and  how  much  their  popularity  depended  on 
their  sticking  to  Extremist  solutions.  When  asked 
for  advice  by  the  Premier,  Prince  Lvov,  I  told  him  that 
we  had  to  choose  between  two  courses  :  that  of  a  strong 
power,  necessary  to  save  the  Revolution  from  its 
excesses,  which  would  necessitate  a  policy  like  that 
of  Noske's  to-day,  and  the  course  of  compromise 
with  Zimmerwaldism,  which  would  bring  about  chaos, 
anarchy,  civil  war,  and  a  separate  peace.  I  must  state 
it  again  that  the  second  alternative  was  chosen  under 
the  strong  influence  of  M.  Albert  Thomas,  whose 
authority  seemed  beyond  dispute  to  our  inexperienced 
politicans.  Then  Mr.  Henderson  came  to  tell  us  that 
the  workmen's  control  of  factories  had  nothing  incon- 
venient about  it,  because  there  was  already  a  precedent 
for  it  in  the  State  control  introduced  in  England  during 
war-time.  The  parallel  was  incomplete  and  utterly 
misleading  ;  but  here,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Coalition 
Ministry  and  the  coming  offensive,  it  helped  very  much 
to  push  the  Russian  Revolution  along  the  way  which 
could  not  but  prove  fatal  to  it. 

The  result  is  known  to  everybody.  In  two  months 
there  came  the  collapse  of  the  Russian  offensive,  in 
half  a  year  the  complete  victory  of  the  internationalist 
current  in  the  Revolution,  and  in  nine  months  Brest- 
Litovsk.  As  a  consequence  of  the  demoralization  of 
the  army  and  of  its  retreat,  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
deserters  flooded  the  country,  which  they  found  deprived 
of  all  its  former  administrative  authorities.  They  brought 
trouble  and  disorders  to  towns  and  villages,  and  they 
entirely  blocked  all  means  of  communication.  It  was 
under  their  influence  that  the  peasants,  who  until  then 


80    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

had  kept  comparatively  quiet,  started  the  distribution 
of  land  the  burning  of  landowners'  houses,  and  the 
"  creating  of  the  new  Law,"  as  was  the  current  expression 
of  the  Socialist  Revolutionaries,  the  predominating 
agrarian  party.  The  cities  had  already,  by  that  time, 
become  isolated  from  the  villages.  All  commerce  was 
stopped,  factories  were  closed.  No  manufactured  goods 
were  sent  to  villages.  No  grain  was  sold  in  exchange 
to  the  cities,  unemployment  speedily  grew,  the  first 
symptoms  of  famine  and  disease  already  made  their 
appearance.  Bolshevism  was  promising  peace,  food, 
land,  and  workmen's  control  of  the  factories.  Russia 
was  ripe  for  Bolshevism. 

The  story  of  its  increasing  success  was  only  recently 
told  by  one  of  its  leaders,  Mr.  Trotsky.1  Of  course, 
Mr.  Trotsky  tells  it  from  his  own  point  of  view,  and 
he  states  the  facts  in  terms  of  his  own  ideology,  while 
very  often  distorting  them  or  in  ignorance  of  their 
full  meaning.  But  substantially  he  is  right  in  his 
explanations  of  the  loss  of  popularity  by  the  Moderate 
Socialist  leaders  of  the  Soviet,  as  also  in  his  statements 
regarding  the  growing  Bolshevist  success  among  the 
Petrograd  workmen  and  soldiers.  Mr.  Tsereteli  was 
also  right  in  his  forebodings  as  to  the  result  of  his 
and  his  friends  taking  part  in  the  Government.  The 
opinion  of  the  man  in  the  street,  a  workman  or  a  soldier 
of  Petrograd,  was,  in  April,  as  M.  Anet  states  it  in  his 
diary  under  the  dates  April  I3~26th,  that  war  must 
be  stopped  at  once,  and  the  only  obstacle  was  that 
"  Germany  would  not  make  peace  with  Guchkov  and 
Miliukov  :  accordingly  they  must  go.  As  soon  as  a 

1  History  of  the  Russian  Revolution  to  Brest  Litovsk  (George 
Allen  &  Unwin,  Ltd.). 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  81 

true  Democracy  assumes  power,  the  German  Socialists 
will  overthrow  William  and  will  unite  with  us." 

Meantime,    the    Moderate    Socialists   were     entering 
the  Cabinet  with  a  firm  decision,  which  became  nearly 
a  moral  obligation,  to  start  an  offensive,  which  could 
not  but  be  explained  as  prolonging  the  war  and  making 
common  cause  with  "  British  and  French  capitalists." 
Says  Mr.  Trotsky  :    "At  that  time  they  spoke  of  the 
offensive   in    exactly  the  same  terms  in  which  Social 
Patriots  of  all  countries  had  spoken  at  the  beginning 
of   the    war    about    the    necessity   of    supporting   the 
cause  of  national  defence,  of  strengthening  the  sacred 
unity   of    the    nation,   etc.     All   their   Zimmerwaldian 
Internationalism  vanished  as  if  by  magic."     Moreover, 
although    they    never    wished    to    take    any    coercive 
measures  against  Leninite  open  appeals  to  mutiny,  they 
had  to  share  the  responsibility  for  such  half-hearted 
measures   as   were   finally   taken   by  the   Government 
after  the  first  Bolshevist  rising  of  July  I4~i6th.     On 
taking  the   helm   they  soon  learnt   the   appalling  in- 
sufficiency  of  the   vanishing   State   resources   to   cope 
with  increased  social  demands,  and  they  tried  to  impart 
to  the  masses  some  of  their  new  knowledge,  warning 
them  against  demagogic  exaggerations  and  explaining 
to    them    the    unachievable    character    of    Bolshevist 
promises.     They   were    practically    now    speaking    the 
same  language  as  the   bourgeois  politicians,   but   they 
were  using  it  in  complete  contradiction  to  what  was 
considered  to  be  the  true  socialistic  doctrine  and  the 
true  tactics  of  "  Revolutionary  Democracy."     That  is 
why  they  quickly  lost  ground  and  why  the  Bolshevik 
leaders  gained  ground  amongst  the  Petrograd  masses. 
Amongst  the  uncertain  and  the  wavering  the  Bolsheviks 

6 


82    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

were  the  only  people  who  knew  what  they  wished  to 
do,  and  who  were  ready  to  use  force  in  order  to  achieve 
their  aims.  On  the  day  after  his  arrival  in  Russia, 
on  April  I7th,  Mr.  Lenin  made  public  his  "  personal  " 
points,  which  started  with  the  assertion  that  "  no  con- 
cessions, not  even  the  smallest  ones,  to  revolutionary 
defencism  (i.e.  the  point  of  view  of  national  defence) 
are  possible,  because  war  remains  predatory  and  im- 
perialistic, owing  to  the  capitalistic  character  of  this 
Government." 

Moderate  Socialists  are  "  cheated  by  the  bourgeoisie," 
and  they  are  to  be  taught  that  "  no  truly  democratic 
peace,  no  peace  without  violence  is  possible  without 
the  overthrow  of  capitalism."  "  This  view  must  be 
largely  propagated  in  the  army,"  which  must  be 
taught  to  "  fraternize."  The  first  stage  of  the 
Revolution  which  is  characterized  by  the  bourgeois 
possession  of  power  owing  to  the  lack  of  con- 
sciousness and  organization  of  the  proletariat  must 
yield  to  the  second  stage,  which  must  give  power  to 
the  proletarians  and  poorest  peasants.  "  The  first 
step  towards  it  is  to  protest  against  the  parliamentary 
republic,  and  to  insist  on  the  handing  over  the  power 
to  the  Soviets.  Police,  army,  and  officials  are  to  be 
abolished,  proprietors'  estates  confiscated,  all  land 
and  all  banks  are  to  be  "  nationalized." 

It  will  not  be,  as  yet,  equivalent  to  "  introducing 
Socialism,"  but  it  will  make  an  immediate  transition 
to  control  by  the  Soviet,  to  collective  production  and 
the  distribution  of  produce.  '  The  initiative  must 
be  taken  for  organizing  a  new  International  against 
Social  Chauvinists  and  against  the  Centre."  It  is 
explained  that  International  Socialists  give  that  name 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  83 

of  the  Centre  to  "  the  current  that  vacillates  between 
Chauvinism  ("  Defencism  ")  and  Internationalism,  e.g. 
Kautsky  and  Co.,  in  Germany  ;  Longuet  and  Co.,  in 
France  ;  Tchkeidse  and  Co.,  in  Russia  ;  Turati  and  Co., 
in  Italy ;  Ramsay  Macdonald  and  Co.,  in  England, 
etc." 

Pure  Zimmerwaldism  was  to  be  opposed  to  "  un- 
principled nebulousness  and  political  servility "  of 
Zimmerwaldian  renegades — the  "  lower  middle-class 
Democrats,"  as  Mr.  Trotsky  misleadingly  calls  the 
Moderate  Socialists.  And  pure  Zimmerwaldism  has 
won  the  game.  It  is  impossible  to  state  here  in  detail 
just  how  it  happened,  but  Mr.  Trotsky  has  told  his 
version  of  the  story,  and  I  told  mine  in  another  place.1 
The  reader  may  be  referred  to  both.  The  point  is 
the  same  in  both  readings,  namely,  that  International 
Socialism  has  gained  the  upper  hand  over  the  National 
Revolution.  Whatever  be  the  result  of  this  change 
for  Russia,  in  Europe  it  is  a  most  important  episode 
and  a  link  in  the  chain  in  the  history  of  rising  Inter- 
nationalism. 

4.  INFLUENCE    OF    THE     RUSSIAN     REVOLUTION    ON 
EUROPEAN  INTERNATIONALISM. 

We  have  now  seen  the  kind  of  influence  that  European 
Internationalism  has  had  upon  the  course  of  the  Russian 
Revolution.  Let  us  trace  the  inverse  influence  which 
the  internationalized  Russian  Revolution  has  had  upon 
European  Internationalism. 

Had  M,  Albert  Thomas's  exertions  been  successful, 

1  See  my  History  of  the  Second  Russian  Revolution,  now  in 
process  of  publication  in  Russia, 


84    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

and  had  Mr.  Kerensky's  speeches  been  able  to  regenerate 
the  "  democratized  "  Russian  Army,  the  flexible  socialis- 
tic majorities  in  the  Entente  countries  might  have  been 
stiffened.  The  inevitable  failure  of  the  Russian  offen- 
sive was  bound,  on  the  contrary,  to  make  their  immediate 
position  untenable  and  to  strengthen  both  extremes 
at  their  expense  :  the  "  bourgeois  militarism  "  and  the 
Extremist  Internationalism.  After  all,  the  vicissitudes 
and  the  final  issue  of  the  war,  not  parliamentary  dis- 
cussions and  the  resolutions  of  congresses,  decided  the 
fate  of  all  three  currents.  Whether  it  was  to  be  the 
peace  "  without  victory  "  of  President  Wilson  of  1916, 
or  a  "  peace  of  understanding  "  (Verstandigungsfriederi) 
of  the  German  Reichstag  of  July  1917,  or  a  "  peace 
of  violence,"  in  case  of  the  complete  defeat  of  either 
one  side,  had  to  be  determined  on  the  battlefield. 

The  Russian  Revolution  was  also  considered  as  a 
new  factor,  but  not  so  much  owing  to  the  exalted 
mission  assumed  by  its  socialist  leaders,  as  because 
of  the  changes  likely  to  result  from  the  state  of  mind 
of  the  Russian  fighting  forces.  The  chances  of  a 
"  democratic  peace  "  as  proposed  by  the  Soviet  being 
enforced  were  rising  and  falling  in  exact  proportion 
with  the  number  of  enemy  troops  which  the  Russian 
front  was  able  to  detain. 

We  can  easily  trace  the  seemingly  complicated  story 
of  these  fluctuations  to  the  above  mentioned  cause, 
when  studying  the  rise  and  fall  of  a  new  international 
enterprise  started  under  the  auspices  of  the  Russian 
Revolution.  I  mean  the  renewed  attempt  to  convoke 
a  Conference  of  Socialists  of  all  countries  in  Stockholm. 
The  two  first  stages  of  this  story  follow  the  beaten  track. 
Suggested  by  Germans,  the  idea  was  taken  up  by  pro- 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  85 

German  neutrals.  It  is  the  third  stage  that  is  new  : 
that  where  the  customary  participation  of  neutrals  is 
intercepted  by  that  unforeseen  agent — the  indiscrirni- 
nating  Zimmerwaldians  of  the  Russian  Soviet.  It  is 
here  that  fluctuations  begin. 

To  start  at  the  beginning.     The  Soviet's  Appeal  of 
March   27th  "  to  the  peoples  of  the  whole  world  "  set 
Internationalist  Socialists  of  all  countries  to  work.     It 
directly  invited  Germany  to  take  up  the  Zimmerwald 
and  Kienthal  scheme.     Lenin  himself  might  be  entirely 
satisfied   with   the    Soviet's   proposal   to    Germany   to 
imitate  the  Russian   example  and  "  to  overthrow  the 
yoke  of  the  autocratic  regime,  to  desist  from  serving 
an  instrument  of  rapine  and  violence  for  kings,  land- 
owners,  and  bankers,  and  with  united  effort   to  stop 
the  fearful  slaughter  dishonouring  humanity  and  ob- 
fuscating the  great  days  of  Russia's  era  of  freedom." 
This  invitation   elicited   only   a   very   reserved   and 
dry  response  on  the  part  of  the  German  Social  Demo- 
crats.    They   were   against   interference   in   any   one's 
internal  affairs  ;   so  far  as  Germany  was  concerned,  the 
great  majority  of  Germans  were  Monarchists,  and  they 
would  be  quite  satisfied  with  democratic  reform,  without 
asking  for  a  Republic.     Of  course,  the  German  Minority, 
which  had  just,   under  the  influence  of  the   Russian 
Revolution,  separated  itself  from  the  old  party,  and  had 
at  the  Congress  of  Gotha  (April  6-8th)  assumed  a  new 
organization  and  the  new  name  of  the  "  Independent 
S.D.  Party,"  did  not  agree  to  that  view. 

During  the  debate  following  Bethmann-Hollweg's 
resignation  (July  I4th)  the  Independent  Socialists  pro- 
posed an  amendment  including  the  "  pure  "  Russian 
formula  for  "  democratic  peace,"  and  they  wound  up 


86    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

by   a   demand   for   "  democratization   which   will   cul- 
minate in  the  creation  of  a  Socialist  Republic." 

Far  from  sharing  such  views  at  home,  the  Majority 
Socialists  were  busily  aiding  in  importing  them  into 
revolutionized  Russia.  A  lively  interchange  of  views 
and  journeys  to  and  from  Berlin  had  begun.  Already 
at  the  beginning  of  April,  not  only  a  batch  of  Russian 
Bolsheviks  with  Mr.  Lenin  at  the  head,  was  hurriedly 
forwarded  to  Russia  via  Germany  from  Switzerland, 
with  the  active  help  of  Swiss  Internationalists,  but 
signals  were  given  to  the  Austrians,  Adler,  Renner, 
and  Seitz,  who  followed  directly  on  Mr.  Lenin's  heels 
via  Berlin  to  Copenhagen,  and  there  discussed  matters 
with  Scheidemann  and  Stauding,  after  having  discussed 
them  previously  with  Count  Czernin.  A  few  days 
later  the  same  route,  Berlin-Copenhagen-Stockholm, 
was  pursued  by  Dutch  members  of  the  old  Socialist 
International  Bureau  (transferred  to  the  Hague  from 
Brussels),  Troelstra,  Albarda,  Van  Kol,  followed  by 
the  Secretary,  M.  Camille  Huysmans.  While  in 
Berlin  Troelstra  secured  the  official  consent  of  the 
German  Majority  Socialists  not  to  object  to  the  par- 
ticipation of  the  Minority  at  the  Conference.  The 
Minority,  to  be  sure,  was  less  conciliatory.  Franz 
Mehring  wrote  to  the  Petrograd  Soviet  "  protesting 
energetically  against  the  admission,"  of  the  Majority 
and  "  refusing  to  take  part  "  in  a  Conference  whose 
only  purpose  evidently  was  "  to  promote  the  interests 
of  the  German  Government."  The  admission  of  such 
"  faithful  slaves  of  the  German  Government,"  as 
"  Scheidemann  and  Siidecum  and  all  the  other  so- 
called  Socialists  .  .  .  would  be  a  severe  blow  to  Inter- 
national Socialism." 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  87 

Such  an  appeal,  of  course,  did  not  go  unheeded  by 
the  Soviet  Zimmerwaldians.  They  looked  askance 
at  National  Socialist  Deputies  and  Ministers  coming 
to  Russia.  How  could  they  allow  them  to  appropriate 
for  themselves  the  initiative  of  a  Conference  towards 
which  their  own  attitude  was,  as  M.  Vandervelde  very 
well  stated,  that  of  "a  kind  of  Messianic  faith  ?  " 
"  They  believe,"  M.  Vandervelde  goes  on  saying, 
"  that  the  prestige  of  their  Revolution  would  put  them 
in  a  position  to  impose  their  peace  formula  on  the  other 
Socialist  parties,  including  the  German  Majority 
Socialists." 

The  Entente  Socialists  might  find  it  rather  "  para- 
doxical to  suppose  that  to  induce  the  Russian  soldiers 
to  fight,  one  must  put  before  them  the  idea  of  a  Con- 
ference in  favour  of  peace."  It  was,  of  course,  para- 
doxical and  utterly  false,  but  the  idea  had  become 
current,  as  we  saw  it,  already  in  1916  among  European 
Socialist  minorities.  Mr.  Tsereteli  and  Mr.  Kerensky 
were  repeating  to  MM.  Albert  Thomas  and  Emile 
Vandervelde  what  they  might  have  learnt  from  M. 
Longuet  and  Mr.  Ramsay  Macdonald,  had  they  not 
been  taught  in  a  more  direct  way  by  the  Zimmerwald 
and  Kienthal  resolutions.  The  chief  point  is,  though, 
that  Tsereteli  and  Kerensky  were  led  by  people  who 
understood  the  gist  of  the  Zimmerwald  doctrine  better 
than  they  did,  and  they  only  repeated  words  which 
from  their  own  point  of  view  had  no  other  meaning 
than  that  of  gaining  them  the  favour  of  the  "  revolu- 
tionary "  Democracy.  It  was  the  real  leaders  of 
International  Extremism  who  prepared  the  draft  of 
a  new  appeal  issued  by  the  Soviet  on  June  3,  1917. 
Here  we  find  the  entire  doctrine  of  Zimmerwald 


88    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

embodied,     without    any    compromise    or    misguiding 
comment. 

After  having  told  the  story  of  their  having  "  forced  " 
the  Government  to  accept  the  "  democratic  "  formula 
of  peace,  they  gave  motives  for  their  decisions  of 
May  9-i5th  to  take  the  initiative  in  convoking  the 
International  Conference  at  Stockholm  : 

The  Soviet  of  Working  Men  and  Soldiers  thinks  that  the 
cessation  of  war  and  the  establishment  of  international  peace 
.  .  .  can  only  be  attained  by  a  united  international  effort  of 
workmen's  parties  and  syndicates  of  belligerent  and  neutral 
countries  for  an  energetic  and  tenacious  struggle  against  universal 
slaughter.  The  first  necessary  and  decisive  step  in  order  to 
organize  such  an  international  movement  is  the  convocation  of 
an  International  Conference.  Its  principal  task  must  be  to  bring 
about  an  agreement  between  the  representatives  of  the  Socialist 
proletariat  on  the  subject  of  liquidating  the  policy  of  the  sacred 
union  with  the  Governments  and  with  imperialist  classes  which 
precludes  all  struggle  for  peace,  and  also  on  the  subject  of  the 
methods  of  such  a  struggle.  .  .  .  Are  invited  parties  and 
organizations  of  working  classes  which  share  in  these 
opinions  and  are  ready  to  unite  their  efforts  for  the  sake  of 
their  realization. 

The  Soviet  is  also  firmly  persuaded  that  parties  and  organi- 
zations which  do  accept  this  invitation  will  also  accept  the 
inflexible  obligation  to  apply  in  reality  all  decisions  of  that 
Conference. 

It  is  now  easy  to  understand  why  the  Soviet 
particularly  emphasized  the  necessity  for  all  socialistic 
minorities  to  be  present  at  Stockholm.  They  were  the 
only  parties  capable  of  sharing  in  the  programme, 
tactics,  and  the  discipline  of  Zimmerwald-Kienthal.  On 
May  gth  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Soviet  sent 
special  telegrams  to  England,  France,  Italy,  Switzer- 
land, and  Sweden  in  order  to  "  invite  comrades  Brizon, 
Longuet,  and  other  representatives  of  the  French 
Socialistic  Opposition,  representatives  of  the  Inde- 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  89 

pendent  Labour  Party,  the  British  Socialist  party, 
and  the  Italian  Social  Democratic  party  to  send  their 
delegates  to  Petrograd." 

This  was  not  very  much  different  from  Robert 
Grimm's  invitation  to  Stockholm,  extended  in  the  name 
of  the  Berne  I.S.C.  to  "  parties  and  organizations 
sharing  the  watchwords  :  war  against  the  conciliation 
of  parties,  renewal  of  the  class  war,  demand  for  an 
immediate  armistice,  and  the  conclusion  of  peace  with- 
out contributions  and  annexations  on  the  basis  of  free 
self-determination  of  peoples." 

This  "  third  Zimmerwald  Conference  "  was  to  meet 
on  May  i8th,  ten  days  before  the  date  initially  fixed 
by  the  "  Dutch-Scandinavian  Committee  "  for  a  general 
Socialistic  Conference,  in  order  "  to  work  out  a  uniform 
platform  "  and  to  control  the  latter  (cf.  supra,  p.  57). 
It  is  worth  while  enumerating  the  socialistic  organiza- 
tions which  received  Robert  Grimm's  invitation  :  the 
list  will  show  at  once  the  sphere  of  the  influence  of 
Zimmerwald-Kienthal  doctrine  and  tactics.  They 
are  : 

The  Soviet  of  Working  Men  and  Soldiers. 

The  Central  Committee  and  the  Organization  Committee  of 
The  Russian  Social  Democratic  Labour  Party. 

The  Central  Committee  of  Russian  Social  Revolutionary  Party 
of  an  Internationalist  Tendency. 

The  Central  Committee  of  Jewish  Labour  "  Bunds  "  in  Poland, 
Lithuania  and  Prussia. 

The  German  Independent  Social  Democratic  Labour  Party. 

The  French  Social  Democratic  Minority  of  Zimmerwald 
Tendency. 

The   Italian   Social  Democratic   Party. 

The   Polish   Socialistic   Party. 

The  Bulgarian  Social  Democratic  Party  (the  "  Left  " 
one). 

Rumanian  Social  Democratic  Party. 

British  Independent  Labour  Party. 


90    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Swedish,   Danish   and   Norwegian   Social   Democratic   Unions 
ol  Young  Men. 

Norwegian  Social  Democratic  Party. 
Serbian  Social  Democratic  Party. 


Attempts  of  the  Entente  Socialists  to  change  that 
state  of  mind  of  the  Soviet  were  quite  hopeless.  The 
Belgians  decidedly  refused  to  confer  with  the  Germans. 
The  French  Deputies  (Moutet,  Cachin,  Lafont)  were 
so  strongly  impressed  by  the  Soviet's  extremism  that 
on  their  return  to  France  they  advocated  a  policy  of 
the  largest  concessions. 

Arthur  Henderson,  after  having  agreed  with  his 
colleagues  in  a  common  refusal  to  participate  in  a 
full  conference,  finally  consented  to  a  consultative  con- 
ference. Albert  Thomas,  who  was  particularly  re- 
sponsible for  the  first  Coalition  compromise,  was  also 
especially  eager  to  help  the  Russian  Socialistic  Govern- 
ment to  the  anticipated  military  success.  However, 
he  consented  to  accept  the  Conference  with  certain 
reservations,  which  were  practically  equivalent  to  a 
refusal.  The  French  party,  as  represented  by  its 
Permanent  Administrative  Commission,  had  just 
(April  27th)  denied  the  right  of  the  Dutch  Socialists  to 
speak  in  the  name  of  the  International,  and  had  refused 
to  go  to  a  Conference  convoked  under  an  obvious  incite- 
ment of  the  Austro-German  Socialists  who  had  not 
yet  repudiated  their  guilt  of  complicity  with  their 
aggressive  Government,  and  who  now  hoped  that  an 
amnesty  would  be  extended  to  them  by  the  Russian 
Revolution.  But  as  soon  as  the  National  Congress 
of  the  party  (May  29th)  learnt  from  Messrs.  Cachin 
and  Moutet  of  the  initiative  of  the  Soviet,  the  draft 
of  a  resolution  strongly  denouncing  the  International's 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  91 

powerlessness  was  withdrawn,  and  was  replaced  by  one 
accepting  "  the  initiative  of  the  Russian  comrades," 
and  consenting  to  send  a  delegation  to  Stockholm  in 
order  "  to  prepare  for  peace  according  to  the  principles 
formulated  by  the  Revolutionary  Government  and  by 
the  Socialists  in  Russia." 

A  Russian  delegation,  sent  by  the  Soviet,  was  also 
hurrying  to  Stockholm,  and  National  Socialists  of  the 
Allied  countries  were  happy  to  elicit  at  least  one  con- 
cession from  the  Soviet,  to  wit,  a  consent  to  discuss 
matters  previously  at  an  inter-Allied  Socialist  Con- 
ference in  London.  On  their  arrival  in  London  the 
Russian  delegates  were  met  by  Messrs.  Jowett,  Ramsay 
Macdonald,  Roberts,  and  Wardle,  in  the  name  of  the 
I.L.P.,  whose  guests  they  were  considered  to  be.  This 
was  quite  sufficient  to  classify  them — truly — with  the 
Extremists  of  this  country  and  to  warn  the  great  majority 
of  real  Workmen's  organizations  against  them.  A 
manifesto  issued  by  the  "  League  of  British  Workmen  " 
severely  criticized  their  declaration,  asked  the  Russian 
"  comrades  "  to  mind  their  own  business,  and  expressed 
an  "  earnest  hope  that  neither  the  Parliament  nor 
the  nation  will  permit  itself  to  be  lulled  by  words," 
while  ignoring  the  fact  that  "  the  ideas  of  the  Russian 
Revolutionaries  run  counter  to  British  national  sover- 
eignty." In  vain  Arthur  Henderson  tried  to  conciliate 
Labour  opinion  and  to  persuade  it  to  reconsider  the 
decision,  taken  half  a  year  before  by  the  Trade  Union 
Congress,  not  to  go  to  the  Conference.  In  Paris  the 
Russian  delegates  also  met  with  difficulties  concerning 
the  composition  of  the  proposed  Conference  :  the 
French  would  not  admit  the  newly-formed  minorities 
and  their  central  organ  in  Berne ;  while  the  Russians, 


92    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

as  we  have  seen,  were  making  of  it  a  leading  feature 
and  an  unalterable  condition  of  the  renascence  of  the 
International. 

Whether  or  not  Russian  Zimmerwaldism  would 
succeed  in  wringing  involuntary  concessions  from  the 
socialistic  majorities  of  the  Allied  countries,  entirely 
depended  on  the  success  or  failure  of  that  enterprise 
which  forced  Allied  Socialists  to  coax  the  Russian 
tovarischi  (comrades)  of  the  Soviet — the  Russian 
offensive. 

In  the  third  week  of  July  news  came  to  hand  reporting 
that  after  the  first  brilliant  successes  of  the  Russian 
offensive,  exclusively  due  to  newly-organized  "  shock 
battalions  "  and  to  the  personal  gallantry  of  the  officers, 
the  body  of  the  army,  without  being  defeated  in  battle, 
turned  their  backs  to  the  enemy.  Before  the  end  of 
July  it  became  clear  that  the  retreat  was  not  accidental, 
and  that  it  was  not  to  be  stopped  by  Mr.  Kerensky's 
means  of  persuasion. 

On  July  zgth  General  Denikin  told  it  to  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  Minister  in  the  same  plain  and  outspoken 
manner  as  he  was  wont  to  use  when  addressing  the 
authorities  of  the  ancient  regime.  He  quoted  a  number 
of  instances  in  order  to  show  just  how  inadequate  and 
transient  the  impression  of  Mr.  Kerensky's  speeches 
was  on  the  army,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  how  thoroughly 
destructive  was  the  process  of  the  so-called  "  democrat- 
ization "  of  the  army  for  preserving  its  discipline  and 
its  loyalty  to  the  commanding  staff.  Among  other 
things  General  Denikin  quoted  a  report  of  the  Com- 
mander of  the  ist  Corps  of  the  Siberian  Army,  which 
I  reproduce  here  in  order  to  show  how  utterly  unjust 
and  misleading  it  is  to  explain  the  Russian  defeat 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  93 

by  anything  else  than  the  state  of  mind  of  soldiers 
depraved  by  an  extremist  propaganda  : 

Everything  promised  the  success  of  the  operations  :  a  care- 
fully-worked-out  scheme,  powerful  artillery  which  worked 
admirably,  favourable  weather  which  hindered  the  Germans' 
use  of  the  superiority  of  their  aviation,  our  numerical  prepon- 
derance, facilities  for  moving  reserves  at  any  chosen  moment, 
the  abundance  of  munitions,  a  happy  choice  of  the  sector  for 
attack,  permitting  us  to  place  our  artillery  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  enemy's  trenches  without  observation,  a  large  number  of 
guns  well  hidden  owing  to  the  configuration  of  the  ground,  the 
short  distance  between  the  two  lines,  an  absence  of  natural 
obstacles  which  would  force  us  to  attack  under  enemy  fire.  .  .  . 
A  success,  a  brilliant  success  crowned  our  effort  with  compara- 
tively small  losses  on  our  side.  Three  fortified  lines  were  taken. 
There  remained  before  us  only  a  few  fortifications,  and  the  battle 
might  soon  have  taken  the  character  of  a  complete  destruction 
of  the  enemy,  whose  artillery  was  silenced  ;  more  than  1,400 
were  taken  prisoners,  a  great  number  of  machine  guns  were 
captured.  Besides,  the  enemy  suffered  great  losses  in  dead 
and  wounded,  and  one  might,  with  certainty,  say  that  ere  long 
the  units  before  us  would  have  been  entirely  disabled.  .  .  . 
Barely  three  or  four  batteries  kept  firing  on  our  front,  and, 
now  and  then,  as  many  machine  guns.  Rifle  shots  were  scarce. 
.  .  .  But  night  came.  ...  I  immediately  began  to  receive 
disquieting  news  from  commanders.  Quite  a  mass  of  soldiers, 
by  whole  companies,  began  of  their  own  will  to  retreat  from 
the  first  line  which  remained  unattacked.  In  certain  regiments 
only  commanders  with  their  staffs  and  a  few  soldiers  stayed 
within  the  zone  of  fire.  .  .  .  Having  thus,  within  the  space 
of  one  day,  passed  from  the  joy  of  approaching  victory  wrung 
from  the  enemy  under  most  favourable  circumstances  to  the 
horror  of  seeing  the  fruits  of  this  victory  voluntarily  abandoned 
by  the  combating  masses,  at  the  moment  when  victory  was  as 
much  a  necessity  to  our  native  country  as  air  and  water  are 
to  man,  I  was  brought  to  understand  that  we,  the  chiefs,  were 
quite  powerless  to  change  the  fatal  psychology  of  the  masses, 
and  I  wept  long  and  bitterly.  .  .  . 

On  the  receipt  of  news  of  the  Russian  military 
collapse,  readiness  to  defer  to  the  wishes  of  the  Soviet 
at  once  disappeared.  "  Let  us  not  shut  our  eyes  to 
reality,"  one  of  the  Russian  delegates,  Mr.  Rubanovitch, 


94    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

said  to  the  Executive  Committee  of  Peasants'  Deputies 
on  September  gth.  "  If  the  appeal  to  Revolutionary 
Democracy  on  behalf  of  peace  is  to  be  heeded,  the 
fighting  force  of  the  Russian  Revolutionary  Army 
must  be  reconstituted.  Failing  this,  there  is  no  sal- 
vation, and  no  struggle  for  peace  is  possible." 

Indeed,  all  leading  Socialists  who  committed  them- 
selves to  the  Soviet  proposal  now  hastily  withdrew 
their  consent,  on  the  plausible  pretext  that  the  Russian 
Government  themselves  no  longer  insisted  on  backing 
the  Stockholm  Conference.  Arthur  Henderson,  who 
still  favoured  it,  at  the  end  of  July  had  to  resign  his 
place  in  the  Cabinet  (July  29th)  ;  a  month  later 
(August  22nd)  he  was  disavowed  by  the  Trade  Union 
Congress  in  Blackpool,  which,  by  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  2,049,000  against  91,000,  carried  a  resolu- 
tion to  the  effect  that,  "  At  present  a  Conference  in 
Stockholm  has  no  chance  of  success." 

Albert  Thomas  proved  more  flexible  and  farseeing. 
Already  on  August  2nd,  in  his  speech  delivered  at 
Champial,  he  declared  that  the  Conference  was  "  un- 
timely," and  that  the  chief  reason  for  consenting  to  it 
— namely,  "  the  feeling  of  admiration  for  the  Russian 
Revolution,  and  the  desire  to  help  it  in  an  active  way  " 
— no  longer  existed,  because  "  the  effort  we  were  willing 
to  make  is  not  considered  desirable  by  the  Russian 
Government." 

As  a  consequence  of  that  change,  differences  of 
opinion  among  Moderate  Socialists  on  the  subject  of 
Stockholm  so  much  increased,  that  the  preliminary 
inter-Allied  Conference  in  London  (August  29th  to 
September  2nd)  proved  unable  to  come  to  unanimous 
conclusions.  The  declaration  of  the  majority,  in  slightly 


PROGRESS  THROUGH    WAR  95 

veiled  expressions,  acknowledged  the  failure  of  the 
Russian  Revolution  "  to  rouse  popular  energy  against 
the  militarism  of  the  Central  Empires,"  and  formally 
limited  the  meaning  of  all  three  principles  of  the 
Russian  "  democratic  "  formula  :  "  without  contribu- 
tions," "  without  annexations,"  and  "  self-determina- 
tion." 

Even  Mr.  Henderson  had  now  to  declare  that,  owing 
to  "  the  inability  of  the  inter- Allied  Conference  to  come 
to  any  even  approximate  agreement,"  the  International 
Conference  "  would  be  not  merely  harmful,  but  disas- 
trous." "  We  cannot  meet  in  an  International  Con- 
ference so  long  as  no  common  ground  of  understanding 
between  the  working  classes  of  the  Allied  nations  has 
been  discovered." 

The  only  "  common  ground  "  was,  indeed,  that  of 
Zimmerwald-Kienthal ;  and  as  soon  as  it  appeared 
useless  to  seek  for  it  any  longer,  even  such  hypocritical 
and  half-hearted  concessions  as  had  been  made  to  the 
Russian  Revolution  were  withdrawn.  Even  the 
"  optimist,"  M.  Vandervelde,  discussing  the  new 
situation  a  little  later,  made  some  melancholy  remarks 
which  may  serve  for  drawing  the  veil  over  the  past. 

"  Riga  is  taken  ;  Courland  is  conquered  ;  the  lines 
in  the  north  are  broken,  and,  which  is  infinitely  more 
grave  than  the  worst  defeats,  the  question  is  being 
asked  if  the  Revolutionary  armies  are  still  capable, 
not  of  a  great  offensive,  but  simply  of  holding  out 
against  the  attacks  of  the  enemy.  Meanwhile,  in  the 
interior  the  authority  of  the  Provisional  Government 
is  tottering.  The  Soviets  are  discussing  when  they 
should  be  acting,  party  and  class  antagonisms  are 
dominating  the  preoccupations  of  public  safety,  and 


96    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

in  this  immense  country,  where  so  many  nationalities 
meet,  one  looks  in  vain  for  any  sign  of  a  national  spirit. 
We  must  expect  in  these  conditions  that  in  Paris,  as 
in  London,  the  Conservatives,  who  have  been  forced  to 
keep  silence  during  the  first  successes  of  the  Revolution, 
will  to-day  open  their  mouths  to  judge  and  to  condemn." 
M.  Vandervelde  was  perfectly  right  in  his  forebodings, 
with  the  exception  that,  perhaps,  he,  too,  might  open 
his  mouth  in  order  "  to  judge  and  to  condemn  "  the 
kind  of  help  given  by  his  colleagues  to  bring  about 
that  lamentable  result.  In  London,  in  Paris — and  in 
Berlin,  too — the  greater  part  of  public  opinion,  Par- 
liaments, and  Government  resumed  an  uncompromising 
attitude  :  the  period  of  concessions  to  Internationalism 
had  passed  with  the  passing  success  of  the  Russian 
Revolution. 

In  Berlin  the  parliamentary  bloc  which  carried  the 
Reichstag  resolution  of  July  igth  (on  "  a  peace  of 
understanding,"  with  which  "  forced  acquisitions  of 
territory  are  inconsistent  ")  was  dissolved  in  October  : 
the  "  Independents "  were  isolated,  and  while  they 
were  carrying  on  a  criminal  propaganda  in  the  Navy, 
the  old  party  declared  itself  at  the  Wiirzburg  Congress 
(October  i4th-2Oth)  ready  to  change  their  irrespon- 
sible attitude  towards  the  State.  The  new  Chancellor 
Michaelis,  whose  nomination  was  intended  to  conciliate 
the  parliamentary  bloc  without  making  them  any  sub- 
stantial concessions,  told  the  Budget  Committee  of 
the  Reichstag  that  the  Government  reserved  for  them- 
selves full  liberty  of  action  so  far  as  war  aims  were 
concerned,  and  the  Foreign  Minister,  Kiihlmann, 
finally  declared  (October  gth)  that  Germany  will  never 
yield  on  the  Alsace-Lorraine  question. 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  97 

The  newly-built  Jingo  "  party  of  the  Fatherland  " 
had  won  the  ascendancy,  and,  as  a  result,  Michaelis 
had  to  go  (October  28th),  his  place  being  taken  by  a 
still  more  conservative  politician,  Count  Hertling, 
nominated  by  the  Emperor  without  previously  consulting 
the  Reichstag,  as  had  been  the  case  with  Michaelis. 

In  France  the  drift  of  events  was  in  the  same  direction. 
At  the  Congress  of  Bordeaux  (October  6th-gth)  the 
Socialist  Majority  reasserted  its  predominance.  The 
resolution  of  the  Congress  is  a  curious  mixture  of  former 
internationalist  illusions  still  retained,  at  least  so  far 
as  terminology  is  concerned,  and  a  dawning  consciousness 
of  "  the  meaning  of  events  and  the  pressure  of  realities," 
which  "  oblige  the  Allies  to  bring  up  to  the  maximum 
their  military,  diplomatic,  and  economical  action,"  and 
"  not  to  neglect  any  form  of  action  (i.e.  including  par- 
ticipation in  the  Cabinet  and  the  voting  of  credits)." 
They  still  asserted  their  willingness  to  participate  in  the 
International  Conference  (which  had  been  postponed 
on  the  pretext  of  the  refusal  of  passports  to  the  Ex- 
tremists by  the  Governments)  ;  but  having  grown 
suspicious,  they  now  wanted  "  all  "  Socialist  parties 
(i.e.  the  Zinimerwaldian  minorities  included) — and 
"  particularly  and  fraternally "  the  Russians  of  the 
Soviet — to  speak  their  mind  fully  and  openly  and  to 
present  a  "  detailed  "  answer  to  the  Dutch-Norwegian 
"  Questionnaire  "  as  they  themselves  had  done.  The 
resolution  was  carried  by  1,552  votes  against  two  dis- 
sentient groups  of  the  minority,  one  of  which  was 
ready  to  vote  war  credits  (about  400),  and  another  which 
was  against  any  help  to  the  Government  (about  120). 
Partisans  of  the  Russian  compromise  preached  by 
Messrs.  Lafont  and  Moutet  had  lost  ground  and  abstained 

7 


98    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

from  voting,  but  they  were  few  (85).  Mr.  Alexander 
Varenne  was  right  when  he  summed  up  the  final  result 
as  extremely  favourable,  "  the  majority  for  sharing  in 
the  Government  having  reached  two-thirds,  and  the 
majority  for  voting  credits  four-sixths." 

That  is  why  the  Government  felt  strengthened  and 
unswervingly  repudiated  internationalist  views  on 
"  secret  diplomacy  "  and  on  "  war  aims."  Ribot  and 
Painleve  could  answer  Kuhlmann's  "  Never  "  :  "  We 
shall  have  both  victory  and  Alsace-Lorraine."  To  be 
sure,  the  composition  of  the  Government,  owing  to 
the  combined  attacks  from  both  extreme  wings,  Royalist 
and  Socialist,  had  been  twice  modified.  After  Painleve 
(August  3oth),  Clemenceau  took  up  the  presidency 
(November  I3th).  But  the  spirit  of  national  resistance 
was  only  strengthened  by  the  change.  "  I  shall  make 
no  promises,  I  shall  make  war,"  M.  Clemenceau  was 
heard  saying  in  his  declaration. 

Interrupted  by  a  Deputy,  "  What  about  your  war 
aims  ?  "  M.  Clemenceau  gave  a  plain  answer  :  "  My 
aim  is  victory  !  We  will  try  to  be  a  Government. 
I  share  many  of  your  (Extreme  Left)  prejudices,  but  I 
differentiate  from  you  when  you  wish  to  introduce 
perspectives  of  pure  reasoning  into  the  world  of  reality." 
And  he  proudly  concluded  :  "If  we  see  the  dawn  of 
the  day  when  we  can  hail  victory,  I  wish  you  on  that 
day  to  inflict  the  vote  of  censure  on  me.  I  will  then 
retire  satisfied."  M.  Clemenceau  has  lived  up  to  the 
day  he  so  confidently  predicted. 

Internationalism  was  on  the  wane  all  over  Europe 
just  at  the  moment  when  it  carried  its  decisive  victory 
in  Petrograd.  It  seemed  as  if  the  advent  of  Bolshevism 
in  Russia  was  to  mark  the  end  of  Bolshevism  as  an 


99 

international  peril.     Far  from  that  being  the  case,  the 
danger  was  only  beginning  to  develop. 

5.  THE  BOLSHEVIST  COLLAPSE  IN  WAR  AND  TRIUMPH 
IN  PROPAGANDA. 

Not  only  in  order  to  be  fair  to  the  Bolshevist  leaders, 
but  simply  to  understand  them,  one  must  not  judge 
them  by  the  immediate  results  of  their  "  direct  action  " 
Did  not  Lenin  himself  say  (supra,  pp.  20  and  65)  that 
one  must  be  naive  and  ignorant  to  think  that  a  backward 
country  like  Russia  is  capable  of  becoming  a  Socialistic 
Community  over  night  ?  And  did  not  the  Bolsheviks 
always  protest  against  the  supposition  that,  while 
destroying  the  Russian  Army  and  putting  their  country 
at  the  mercy  of  Germany,  they  really  expected  the 
German  "  imperialists  "  to  favour  Russia  with  a  "  demo- 
cratic peace." 

A  few  days  after  the  Bolshevist  trial  revolt  in  July, 
Mr.  Lenin  repeated  what  he  said  twelve  years  earlier, 
namely,  that  Russia  was  not  ripe  for  an  immediate 
socialistic  overthrow.  And  Mr.  Trotsky,  in  his  published 
account  on  his  part  in  the  Brest-Litovsk  negotiations, 
says,  of  course,  a  little  post  factum :  "  When  the  will 
of  history  summoned  revolutionary  Russia  to  initiate 
peace  negotiations,  we  had  no  doubt  whatever  that, 
failing  the  intervention  of  the  decisive  power  of  the 
world's  revolutionary  proletariat,  we  should  have  to 
pay  in  full  for  over  three  and  a  half  years  of  war.  We 
knew  perfectly  well  that  German  Imperialism  was  an 
enemy  imbued  with  the  consciousness  of  its  own  colossal 
strength,  as  manifested  so  glaringly  in  the  present 
war." 


100   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

No,  the  Bolshevik  leaders  were  neither  "  naive " 
nor  "  ignorant."  They  "  perfectly  well  knew  "  what 
the  immediate  result  of  their  tactics  was  bound  to  be. 
If,  in  full  consciousness  of  their  ominous  conduct,  they 
were  determined  to  disregard  this  result,  it  was  because 
of  the  final  aim  they  pursued,  which  is  known  to  us 
as  the  aim  and  the  tactics  of  Revolutionary  Syndicalism. 
According  to  those  tactics  "  direct  action  "  was  the 
aim  in  itself,  quite  independently  from  its  practical 
results,  owing  to  its  intrinsic  educational  value.  Was 
not  the  Revolution,  in  the  view  of  the  Syndicalists, 
the  work  of  "  every  day  and  every  hour  ?  " 

The  result  will  come  sooner  or  later  :  that  was  the 
firm  belief  of  that  revolutionary  doctrine,  but  the  only 
means  to  hasten  its  advent  was  to  go  on  fighting  for  it. 
Mr.  Lenin  states  it  in  utterances  which  might  be  signed 
by  Georges  Sorel.  "  If  Socialism,"  he  says  to  the 
Congress  of  the  Peasants  a  fortnight  after  his  triumph 
in  Petrograd  (November  1917),  "  can  only  be  enacted 
when  the  intellectual  development  of  all  will  permit 
it,  we  shall  not  see  the  advent  of  Socialism  even  after 
500  years.  But  more  advanced  elements — such  as  the 
Bolshevist  Party  in  the  present  case — must  carry  with 
them  the  masses  without  letting  themselves  be  stopped 
by  the  fact  that  the  average  mentality  of  the  masses 
is  not  what  it  ought  to  be.  We  must  lead  the 
masses  by  using  the  Soviets  as  organs  of  popular 
initiative." 

Mr.  Trotsky  repeats  the  same  refrain  in  his  book. 
"  One  must  always  remember  that  the  masses  of  the 
people  have  never  been  in  possession  of  power,  that 
they  have  always  been  under  the  heel  of  other  classes, 
and  that  therefore  they  lack  political  self-confidence 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  101 

Any  hesitation  shown  in  revolutionary  centres  has  an 
immediate  deteriorating  effect  upon  them.  Only 
when  the  revolutionary  party  firmly  and  unflinchingly 
speeds  to  its  goal  can  it  help  the  working  masses  to 
overcome  all  the  slavish  instincts  inherited  from 
centuries,  and  lead  the  masses  to  victory.  Only  a 
resolute  offensive  secures  victory  with  a  minimum  ex- 
penditure of  strength  and  with  the  fewest  losses." 

It  is  only  when  we  consider  in  this  light  the  "  resolute 
offensive  "  now  begun  by  the  Bolsheviks  for  the 
"  democratic  peace "  that  we  can  understand  why 
people  who  were  not  at  all  stupid,  and  some  of  whom 
were  clever,  were  unable  to  foresee  the  results  obvious 
to  everybody.  Theirs  was  a  method  of  unswerving 
bluff,  almost  grandiose  in  its  unattainable  cynicism. 
"  Soldiers  !  Workmen  !  Peasants  !  "  the  new  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  Mr.  Trotsky,  shouted  four  days  after 
the  Bolshevist  victory  :  "  Your  Soviet  Government  will 
not  permit  your  despatch  anew  to  slaughter  under 
the  cudgels  of  a  foreign  bourgeoisie.  Do  not  be  afraid 
of  menaces.  The  peoples  of  Europe,  attenuated  by 
suffering,  are  with  us.  They  all  want  an  immediate 
peace.  Our  prcposal  of  an  armistice  will  resound  as 
a  bell  of  salvation.  The  peoples  of  Europe  will  not 
permit  the  bourgeois  Governments  to  strike  at  the 
Russian  people,  whose  only  fault  was  to  wish  for  peace 
and  the  fraternity  of  peoples."  That  very  day  (Novem- 
ber nth)  Lenin  explains  to  the  Central  Executive 
Committee  that  it  was  in  consequence  of  the  same 
system  that  the  Russians  were  not  going  to  address 
themselves  for  opening  negotiations  with  the  enemy 
to  supreme  military  authorities,  but  that  "  it  was 
necessary  to  address  the  soldiers  directly,  because 


102   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

peace  was  to  be  concluded  not  from  above,  but  from  below, 
thanks  to  the  activity  of  the  soldiers  themselves." 
"  That  is  why,"  Lenin  said,  "  we  addressed  our  appeal 
to  fraternize  not  to  the  army,  but  to  every  single 
regiment."  Could  that  self-reliance  be  abashed  by 
severe  lessons  administered  to  Bolshevist  negotiators 
by  German  generals  ?  Of  course  not.  The  more 
insolent  the  Germans  were,  the  worse  the  conditions 
of  peace  they  proposed — the  best  for  the  aims  of  the 
world's  propaganda  of  Bolshevism.  Well,  Mr.  Trotsky 
says  in  his  inimitable  slang  (November  igth),  the 
representatives  of  the  Kaiser  have  consented  "  to  pass 
under  the  yoke  "  of  the  great  Bolshevist  power.  "  While 
sitting  with  them  at  the  same  table  (instead  of  discussing 
peace  with  the  '  peoples  ')  we  shall  put  to  them  un- 
equivocal questions,  and  we  shall  admit  no  subterfuges. 
The  whole  trend  of  negotiations,  every  word  uttered 
by  us  and  by  them,  will  be  recorded  and  sent  by  wireless 
to  all  the  peoples  who  will  be  judges  of  our  negotiations. 
The  German  and  the  Austrian  Governments,  under 
the  pressure  of  their  lower  strata,  have  already  consented 
to  be  subpoenaed  to  sit  on  the  defendants'  bench. 
Be  sure,  comrades,  that  the  Public  Prosecutor, 
in  the  person  of  the  Russian  revolutionary  dele- 
gation, will  prove  the  right  man  in  the  right 
place  !  " 

Moreover,  "  France  and  England  will  be  obliged  to 
join  in  peace  negotiations.  If  they  do  not  join,  then 
their  peoples,  after  having  been  informed  of  the  trend 
of  the  negotiations,  will  drive  them  there  with  lashes, 
and  the  Russian  representative  will  make  their  accu- 
sations at  the  bar  of  justice  "  (November  2ist). 

A    few   days    later   Mr.    Trotsky    is    a   little   aston- 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  108 

ished.  The  Germans,  past  masters  in  bluff,  easily 
outran  their  inexperienced  pupils.  "  It  must  be  can- 
didly admitted,"  Mr.  Trotsky  states,  "  that  we  did 
not  anticipate  that  the  actual  proposals  of  the  German 
Imperialists  would  be  separated  by  such  a  wide  gulf 
from  the  formulae  presented  to  us  by  Kiihlmann  on 
December  25th  as  a  sort  of  plagiarism  of  the  Russian 
Revolution  (no  annexations,  etc.).  We,  indeed,  did 
not  expect  such  an  acme  of  impudence."  But,  of 
course,  General  Hoffmann  was  no  match  for  Leo 
Trotsky. 

What  is  the  use  of  proposing  "  predatory  conditions 
of  peace  "  on  the  part  of  the  Germans  ?  what  is  the 
reason  for  fear  on  the  part  of  the  Bolsheviks  ?  Anyhow, 
these  are  "  no  negotiations.  We  shall  have  to  carry  on 
other  negotiations  with  Germany,  when  Liebknecht  is 
at  the  head  of  the  revolutionary  proletariat  of  Germany, 
and  together  with  him  we  shall  readjust  the  map  of  Europe." 

To  attain  that  aim  one  single  thing  is  necessary  : 
time  to  edify  the  European  masses.  Propaganda  is 
the  chief  point,  and  the  very  negotiations  present  an 
interest  for  the  Bolsheviks  only  so  far  as  they  give 
opportunities  for  propaganda  and  protract  the  con- 
clusion of  peace.  "  We  do  not  take  into  consideration 
that  it  is  peace  negotiations  we  carry  on  with  Germany. 
We  speak  to  them  our  customary  revolutionary  lan- 
guage." "  Other  negotiations,  a  true  diplomacy  of  the 
trenches  "  will  be  carried  in  the  ranks  of  the  Austro- 
German  Army  through  a  special  newspaper,  the  Torch, 
published  in  German.  "  We  declared  that  on  this  point 
we  shall  not  enter  into  discussion  with  German  generals, 
but  we  will  only  talk  with  the  German  people." 

It    is    true    that    already   in    October    the    German 


104   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

"  Independents "  wished  their  Russian  comrades  to 
know  that  "  we  cannot  expect  a  Revolutionary  move- 
ment in  Germany  to  come  soon  :  our  Russian  comrades 
must  not  count  upon  it."  But  the  Russian  comrades 
were  bound  to  count  upon  it,  because  otherwise  their 
game  of  hazard  was  lost.  Even  if  they  were  wrong, 
and  failed,  it  would  not  matter.  Anyhow,  it  would 
be  a  new  and  better  record  for  the  future.  They  were 
really  lost  only  in  one  case  :  if  they  became  untrue  to 
their  final  aim. 

"  We  made  it  the  aim  and  purpose  of  our  diplomacy," 
Mr.  Trotsky  says  in  his  book,  not  to  win  a  good  peace 
for  Russia — which  was  impossible — but  to  "  enlighten 
the  popular  masses,  to  open  their  eyes  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  policy  of  their  respective  Governments,  and  to 
fuse  them  in  one  common  struggle  against,  and  hatred 
of,  the  bourgeois-capitalist  regime."  "In  so  far  as 
we  could  not  pledge  ourselves  to  change  the  balance 
and  correlation  of  the  world's  powers  in  a  very  short 
period  of  time,  we  openly  and  honestly  declared  that 
the  Revolutionary  Government  might,  under  certain 
circumstances,  be  compelled  to  accept  an  annexationist 
peace.  For  not  the  acceptance  of  a  peace  forced  upon 
us  by  the  course  of  events,  but  an  attempt  to  hide  its 
predatory  character  from  our  own  people,  would  have 
been  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  Revolutionary 
Government." 

It  was,  as  one  may  see,  quite  an  easy  game  :  one 
had  only  to  oppose  to  every  step  of  German  diplomacy 
a  renewed  appeal  to  the  "  peoples,"  without  heeding 
any  practical  consequences.  Even  if  Germany  had 
to  win,  to  dismember  Russia,  to  defeat  her  Allies,  to 
establish  its  domination  over  Europe,  what  did  it 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  105 

matter  ?  The  "  common  struggle  against,  and  hatred 
of,  the  bourgeois-capitalist  regime  "  was  bound  to  come 
anyhow.  Measured  by  that  supreme  criterion,  every- 
thing else  dwindled  down  to  insignificance,  and  it  was 
quite  immaterial  whether  that  final  result  was  attained 
by  victory  or  by  temporary  compromise,  by  promises 
given  and  not  fulfilled,  by  any  kind  of  "  predatory 
peace  "  extorted  by  the  "  capitalists  "  and  forcibly 
acceded  to  by  the  Internationalists.  Anything  that 
might  hasten  the  final  upshot  was  to  be  resorted  to, 
while  no  promise  and  no  obligation  could  be  con- 
sidered binding  towards  "  sworn  enemies  of  the  '  pro- 
letariat.' " 

Of  course,  it  is  not  only  the  Messianic  idea  of  a  Com- 
munist millennium  to  come  that  makes  the  Bolsheviks 
believe  in  the  infallibility  of  their  tactics.  It  is  also 
their  reading  of  current  events,  in  which  they  display 
extreme  credulity  in  regard  to  the  signs  of  approaching 
catastrophe.  It  was  not  mere  bluff  when  the  Pravda 
stated  on  November  13,  1917  :  "  William  knows  that 
in  case  he  gives  an  unsatisfactory  answer  German 
proletarians  and  peasants  will  reply  by  an  outburst 
of  indignation,  a  cry  of  revolt  which  will  prove  fatal 
to  him."  This  also  was  the  state  of  mind  of  Trotsky 
during  the  Brest  -  Litovsk  negotiations.  "  In  the 
interval,  which  lasted  ten  days,"  he  says  in  his  book, 
"  serious  disturbances  broke  out  in  Austria,  and  strikes 
took  place  among  the  labouring  class  there."  This  he 
describes  as  "  the  first  act  of  recognition  on  the  part 
of  proletariat  of  the  Central  Powers  of  our  methods 
of  conducting  the  peace  negotiations,  in  the  face  of  the 
annexationist  demands  of  German  Imperialism." 
Later  on,  the  official  Isvestia  will  agree,  to  be  sure  : 


106   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

"  we  were  deceived  by  the  Austro-German  strike,  which 
made  us — to  use  Herzen's  expression — mistake  the 
second  month  of  pregnancy  for  the  ninth."  But 
directly  they  console  themselves  with  a  new  manifes- 
tation of  their  self-conceit.  "  In  our  turn  we  repaid 
the  German  Imperialists  a  hundredfold  when  we  induced 
them  fatally  to  believe  that  on  the  fields  of  Champagne 
they  might  look  forward  to  as  speedy  successes  as  they 
reaped  on  the  snowy  plains  of  Russia."  The  Bolsheviks 
thus  even  construe  the  military  successes  of  the  Allies 
as  one  more  proof  of  the  intrinsic  merits  of  their  inter- 
nationalist method  of  fighting  with  words  ! 

Pursuing  that  course,  after  many  more  deceptions 
and  disillusions,  Mr.  Trotsky  finally  recurred  to  means 
"  unused  in  the  world's  history,"  to  use  his  grandilo- 
quent style.  He  declared  that  he  would  neither  sign, 
nor  fight.  To  confound  the  guilty  conscience  of  the 
"  imperialist  "  enemy  Government,  the  Russian  Army 
was  to  be  formally  demobilized.  The  Russian  front, 
thus  left  without  defence,  was  "  handed  over  to  the 
protection  of  German  workmen."  That  was,  of  course, 
consistent  with  the  doctrine,  but  not  in  the  least 
convincing.  "  Imperialistic  "  Germany  immediately 
made  use  of  that  charitable  decision  and  .  .  .  started 
on  the  occupation  and  subsequent  dismemberment  of 
Russia.  This,  too,  was  explained  by  the  Bolsheviks  as 
the  very  pitch  of  Russian  success  !  Mr.  Zinoviev,  the 
dictator  of  Petrograd,  on  January  30,  1918,  wrote  in 
his  Red  Journal :  "  We  dealt  a  terrible  blow  to  the 
world's  Imperialism,  when,  three  months  ago,  we  began 
our  peace  negotiations.  Now  we  deal  to  that  Imperial- 
ism a  deadly  blow  by  our  new  formula  <  "  He  meant 
Mr.  Trotsky's  formula  :  Neither  peace  nor  war. 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  107 

There  was  a  system  in  this  madness.     And  it  was 
this  system  which,  in  a  sense,  revealed  its  strength. 
Both  German  and  Bolshevist  plenipotentiaries  at  Brest- 
Litovsk  understood  very  well  where  that  strength  lay. 
Mr.    Kamenev,   one   of   the   negotiators,   stated   quite 
frankly    to    a    French    journalist    (Robert    Vaucher)  : 
"  We   protracted  negotiations   for  three   months,"   he 
said,   "  in  order  to  give  time  for  our  propaganda  to 
pervade  Germany  .  .  .  and  as  soon  as  the  Germans 
saw  that  we  were  dragging  out  discussion  they  at  once 
changed    their    tone.  .  .  .  They   became   arrogant   as 
soon  as  they  heard  Trotsky  speak  of  the  revolution 
in  Germany.     '  These  people,'  they  said  to  themselves, 
'  have  come  here  not  to  make  peace,  but  to  foment 
revolution.'     And  indeed  we  had  many  opportunities 
of  meeting  soldiers  who  were  disaffected.  ..."     As  a 
matter  of  fact,  during  the  negotiations  Mr.  Kamenev 
was  particularly  anxious  to  extract  from  the  German 
military  command  a  direct  permission  to  send  Bolshevist 
incendiary   pamphlets   to   the    German   trenches,    and 
through   Germany   to  the   French   and   British   front. 
He  candidly  avowed  that  this  was  an  integral  part  of 
"  the  system  of  the  revolutionary  struggle  for  peace." 
Moreover,  the  Bolsheviks  did  not  even  wait  for  per- 
mission.    A   pamphlet   signed  by   Lenin  and   Trotsky 
was  spread  "  in  millions  of  copies  "  among  the  German 
soldiers  at  the  very  time  when  negotiations  were  being 
carried  on.     The  secretary  of  the  Russian  delegation, 
Mr.  Karahan,  had  a  serious  talk  on  this  subject  with 
the   German   delegates.     They   drew   his   attention   to 
the  "  disloyalty  "  of  the  method  under  which  the  Russian 
Government    was   openly   preaching    rebellion    against 
the   very   Government  with  whose   representatives   it 


108   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

was  treating.  "  It  looks  as  if  the  Russians  do  not 
mean  it  seriously  and  are  not  sincere  in  their  desire  to 
conclude  peace.  .  .  ." 

Of  course,  they  were  sincere  in  that  they  considered 
the  peace  negotiations  as  one  of  the  means  for  making 
propaganda  and  for  preparing  the  international  con- 
flagration. And  the  worse  this  peace  was  for  their 
country,  the  better  it  suited  their  purpose.  They  did 
not  make  any  secret  of  their  point  of  view.  They  were 
quite  outspoken  and  candid.  In  hundreds  of  speeches, 
newspaper  articles,  formal  declarations,  they  were 
never  tired  of  repeating  the  same  basic  idea.  The 
Revolution  in  Russia  did  not  aim  at  making  Russia 
a  Socialistic  State.  It  was  to  last  as  long  as  it  was 
necessary  to  kindle  the  fire  elsewhere.  That  is  why 
propaganda  was  an  essential  feature  of  the  whole 
scheme  :  and  this  in  a  double  sense.  In  the  first  place, 
the  new  Soviet  organization,  by  the  very  fact  of  its 
existence,  was  to  work  as  a  sample,  a  living  means  of 
propaganda.  In  the  second  place,  the  Communist 
Government  had  to  make  use  of  its  power  in  order  to 
apply  to  other  countries  the  system  used  by  the  Germans 
towards  the  Bolsheviks.  It  has  now  become  possible 
for  them  to  use  for  international  propaganda  the 
financial  resources  of  the  Russian  State.  The  only 
leading  idea,  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  Bolshevist 
political  wisdom,  was  to  remain  long  enough  in  possession 
of  that  power  to  see  the  results  of  their  international 
work.  They  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  fruition  of  these 
results.  Their  only  apprehension  was  lest  Bolshevism 
in  Russia  should  be  stifled  beforehand  by  foreign 
"  capitalists  "  and  "  imperialists." 

But,    according    to    a    new    version    of     Bolshevist 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  109 

optimism,  "  capitalists  "  were  themselves  doing  Bolshe- 
vist business.  Three  weeks  after  the  signing  of  the 
Brest-Litovsk  peace,  and  a  week  after  its  ratification 
by  the  All-Russian  Soviet,  the  Petrograd  correspondent 
of  the  Daily  News  formulated  Mr.  Lenin's  theory  as 
follows  (March  22,  1918)  :  "  The  task  of  the  Soviets 
is  to  hold  on  until  the  mutual  exhaustion  of  the  fighting 
groups  of  European  capital  brings  about  revolution 
in  all  countries."  Meantime,  Mr.  Trotsky,  who  ex- 
changed the  Foreign  Office  for  the  War  Office,  would 
prepare  his  voluntary  and  democratic  "  Red  Army  " 
in  order  to  impose  his  Communist  law  on  a  revolu- 
tionized world. 

The  events  which  followed  Brest-Litovsk  did  not 
seem  to  justify  these  sanguine  forecasts.  The  German 
armies  flooded  the  South  Russian  plain.  Count  Mirbach 
played  the  master  in  Moscow  and  treated  the  Bolshevik 
authorities  in  a  high-handed  way.  Puffed  up  with 
their  victory  in  the  East,  the  German  armies  were 
preparing  for  a  final  blow  in  the  West.  In  Germany 
itself  and  in  the  Reichstag  there  was  no  more  talk  of 
"  peace  by  negotiation."  The  peace  that  was  to  follow 
the  successful  offensive  of  April  and  May  had  to  be 
a  "  German  peace."  The  democratic  formula  of  the 
parliamentary  bloc  of  July  igth  was  no  more  spoken 
about,  or  it  was  even  openly  repudiated.  The  Allied 
countries — France  particularly — lived  through  what  was 
called  their  "  darkest  hour."  If  the  spirit  was  un 
daunted,  human  material  was  becoming  exhausted 
while  the  Americans  were  only  just  beginning  to  cross 
and  their  military  value  was  as  yet  unknown.  The 
hour  seemed  to  have  struck  for  the  German  victory 
on  the  continent.  Was  it  within  the  limits  of  human 


110   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

foresight  to  surmise  that  before  a  half-year  elapsed  all 
that  glory  would  pass  away  like  a  summer  dream  ? 

The  Bolsheviks  knew  it  better  than  anybody  else. 
A  curious  mixture  of  crazy  dreamers — in  their  aims, 
and  cynical  realists — in  their  methods  of  action,  they 
learnt  by  Russian  experience  just  how  exceptionally 
favourable  the  conditions  of  wartime  and  war  weariness 
were  for  their  revolutionary  propaganda.  The  only 
doubtful  point  was  whether  Germany,  so  famous  for 
her  civic  discipline,  would  dissolve  as  easily  as  the 
country  of  Tolstoy  had  done.  They  were  quite  confident 
that  Germany  would.  They  knew  that  the  same 
process  of  dissolution  of  the  army  which  brought  them 
to  power  in  Russia  was  at  the  same  time  going  on  in 
the  ranks  of  the  German  soldiers.  Doubtless  they  were 
in  contact  with  "  Spartacists."  Rosa  Luxembourg  had 
written  to  a  Russian  Socialist  as  early  as  July  1917 
(quoted  by  John  Reed  in  his  leaflet  Red  Russia)  : 
"  The  Russian  Revolution  was  everything  to  us,  too. 
Everything  in  Germany  was  tottering,  falling.  .  .  . 
For  months  the  soldiers  of  the  two  armies  fraternized, 
and  our  officers  were  powerless  to  stop  it."  Since 
November,  after  the  Bolshevist  victory,  the  contact 
with  German  (and  foreign,  in  general)  revolutionaries 
had  become  much  more  regular.  New  means  of  action 
were  now  available.  One  of  them,  and  a  very  efficient 
one,  was  the  teaching  of  internationalist  doctrines 
to  German  and  Austrian  prisoners  in  Russia,  and  then 
sending  them  home.  This  was  just  what  the  Germans 
had  been  doing — and  the  effect  was  similar. 

During  the  summer  months  of  1918  Germany  more 
than  once  acknowledged  the  success  of  that  propaganda 
by  repeatedly  protesting  against  it.  On  May  loth 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  111 

Count  Mirbach  addressed  his  ultimatum  to  the  Soviet 
Government,  enjoining  them  to  stop  their  revolutionary 
propaganda  amongst  the  war  prisoners.  On  June  6th 
Kiihlmann  sent  a  note  to  the  Soviet  demanding  the 
immediate  dissolution  of  committees  for  war  prisoners 
and  the  arrest  of  their  presidents.  Austria,  also, 
insisted  that  revolutionary  propaganda  among  the 
Austro-Hungarian  prisoners  should  be  discontinued. 
A  week  later  the  Viennese  Press  deplored  the  Bolshevist 
epidemics  let  loose  in  Austria  by  prisoners  back  from 
Russia. 

The  agitation  had  become  still  easier  since  the  day 
(May  2nd)  when  Mr.  Joffe  unfolded  the  Red  Banner  on 
the  Bolshevist  Embassy  in  Berlin.  Berlin  was  shocked 
by  the  fact  that  the  new  Ambassador,  instead  of 
starting  on  a  round  of  official  visits,  entered  directly 
into  contact  with  the  German  Socialist  Minority. 
The  systematic  financing  of  the  "  Spartacists  "  evidently 
dated  from  this  time.  It  was  now  fair  to  state  that 
the  Bolsheviks  were  "  repaying  "  the  German  "  capital- 
ists "  who  had  supplied  them  with  money  for  their 
original  propaganda  and  "  direct  action."  Curiously 
enough,  for  a  time,  both  the  old  and  the  new  tactics 
of  working  with  the  Germans  for  "  peace  propaganda  " 
in  Allied  countries,  and  working  against  the  Germans 
for  a  revolution  in  their  own  country,  went  together. 
Up  to  the  last  detail  the  Bolsheviks  used  all  the  methods 
of  German  agitation  and  "  destruction."  A  special 
"  Bureau  of  International  Revolutionary  Propaganda  " 
was  "  attached  to  the  Commissariat  for  Foreign  Affairs." 
They  printed  pamphlets  and  periodicals  in  every 
foreign  language,  and  they  used  diplomatic  couriers 
and  friendly  Legations  in  order  to  spread  that  literature 


112   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

in  and  outside  Europe.  A  Weltr evolution  (World 
Revolution)  was  published  for  the  Germans.  The 
Troisieme  Internationale  "  (The  Third  International)  was 
issued  by  the  "  French  section  "  in  French.  Series  of 
"  Russian  Revolutionary  Pamphlets  "  by  Lenin,  Philips 
Price,  etc.,  had  been  published  in  English  in  Petrograd 
and  in  Moscow,  before  they  began  to  be  printed  by  the 
I.L.P.,  B.S.P.,  or  W.S.F.  in  London. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  the  exultation  of  the  Bol- 
sheviks at  the  first  symptoms  of  the  real  German 
collapse.  Was  not  it  the  beginning  of  the  realization 
of  their  prophecies,  and  did  not  it  strengthen  enormously 
the  probability  of  their  forecasts  for  a  World  Revolution 
to  follow  ?  Vorwarts  was  the  first  to  recognize  their 
part  in  it,  in  an  editorial  which  was  prohibited  by  the 
German  censor,  but — as  a  sign  and  a  proof  of  mutual 
contact — appeared  in  the  Bolshevist  Pravda  (Truth) 
on  October  igth.  "  The  cause  of  that  complete  change 
in  the  situation,"  Vorwarts  asserted,  "  must  not  be 
sought  in  military  success  or  defeat,  but  in  the  fact 
that  the  hopes  of  the  Russian  Bolsheviks  begin  to 
accomplish  themselves.  The  Universal  Revolution  is 
already  in  sight.  Bolshevism  is  not  confined  to  Russian 
frontiers.  Conditions  necessary  for  its  existence  obtain 
in  all  countries.  In  all  countries  the  spirit  of  Bol- 
shevism has  made  immense  progress,  and  it  becomes  a 
danger  for  the  bourgeoisie.  From  this  point  of  view 
the  armistice  and  the  peace  negotiations  were  considered 
as  a  subterfuge  used  by  the  international  bourgeoisie 
in  order  to  save  their  cause  from  the  social  revolution." 
And  the  editorial  of  the  Truth  on  the  subject  was 
boldly  entitled:  "League  of  Nations  or  ...  the 
Third  International."  "  The  Government  of  the 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  113 

working  class  alone   can   liberate   Germany  from    an 
inevitable  smash  and  can  fearlessly  reject  the  judgment 
of  the  international  bigot  (Wilson),  while  giving  over 
the  cause  of  peace  to  the  new  Third  International." 
"  We  must  recollect,"  Lenin  said  at  the  solemn  meeting 
of  the  Moscow  Soviet  Central  Executive  Committee, 
on   October   22nd,    "  that  in  the  chain   of  revolutions 
the  chief  link  is  the  German  one.     The  success  of  the 
World   Revolution   depends  on  it  much  more  than  on 
any  other."     But  "  the  same  force  that  has  destroyed 
Germany  is  also  at  work  in  England  and  in  America." 
And  he  reviewed  the  state  of  internationalist  propaganda 
in  Bulgaria  and  Serbia,  in  the  small  States  of  Austria, 
in  Germany,  in  Italy,  in  France,  and  in  England.     His 
conclusion  was  :  "  That  is  how  a  universal  phenomenon 
reveals  itself   before   us  :     Bolshevism   has   become  the 
universal  theory  and  practice  of  the  world's  proletariat." 
"  Never  before  was  the  universal  proletarian  revolution 
as  close  as  it  is  now."     A  few  days  later  the  Petrograd 
dictator,   Zinoviev,   developed  the  same  subject  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet.     "  Let  them  laugh 
at  the  fact  that  there  will  be  a  working  men's  revolution 
in  Berlin.     The  bourgeoisie  is  so  blind  as  to  say  :   let 
the  revolution  come  wherever  it  likes,  but  not  in  our 
country.     Well,    the  advent  of    a  revolution  in  Berlin 
means    its    simultaneous    growth    in    Paris.  .  .  .  The 
bankers  of  France  and  of  London  will  soon  learn  that 
the  revolution  in  Berlin  was  not  a  feast,  but  a  memento 
won',  which  had  to  remind  them  of  their  coming  per- 
dition."     At  that  very  time  Liebknecht  was  set  free 
from  his  prison  (October  23rd),  and  the  Russian  work- 
men's  organizations  greeted  him   as   a   leader  of  the 
World  Revolution.     "  We  know  it  for  sure  that  you 

8 


114   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

will  put  yourself  at  the  head  of  German  workmen, 
soldiers,  and  peasants,  and  after  having  helped  them 
to  the  victory  over  their  own  bourgeoisie,  you  will, 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  Russian  proletariat, 
advance  on  the  last  and  decisive  struggle  with  the 
expiring  world's  imperialism,  and  build  on  its  ruins 
the  world's  social  Republic  of  the  Soviets."  Trotsky,  in 
his  turn,  at  a  popular  meeting  in  Petrograd  on  October 
igth,  ventures  to  "  prophesy  "  :  "  Let  only  the  ring 
of  German  militarism  be  disjointed,  and  a  revolution 
will  be  kindled  in  France.  The  barricades  in  Berlin 
will  the  very  next  day  bring  forth  barricades  in  Paris. 
In  full  confidence  we  now  say  to  Poincare,  Clemenceau, 
and  to  the  bigot  Wilson  :  '  You  will  not  frighten  us  ; 
you  will  have  your  revolution,  and  we  must  only  wait 
and  keep  in  being.'  ' 

Of  course,  the  Bolsheviks  were  very  far  from  adopting 
"  wait  and  see "  tactics.  They  proved  extremely 
active  in  coming  into  contact  with  kindred  Extremist 
Internationalist  elements  all  over  the  world,  sending 
them  money,  leaflets,  and  instructions  through  the 
agents  of  their  foreign  propaganda.  After  the  Armistice, 
in  a  still  larger  degree  than  during  the  war,  they 
considered  written  and  oral  propaganda  to  be  their 
chief  aim  and  weapon.  And  they  made  everything 
else  subservient  to  it.  They  expected  the  opposite  side, 
the  bourgeoisie  and  the  Governments,  to  be  as  keen  and 
to  become  as  active  in  defending  their  interests  as  they 
themselves  were.  That  is  why  Lenin  declared  that, 
in  spite  of  the  proximity  of  the  World  Revolution, 
"  the  situation  was  never  so  dangerous  for  Bolshevism 
as  it  has  become  now."  After  the  Armistice  they 
expected  the  Allies  to  pass  through  the  Straits  to 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  115 

Southern  Russia,  and  they,  in  Trotsky's  speech  on 
October  I2th,  beforehand  declared  that  the  Southern 
Front,  and  particularly  the  Don  region,  will  now  "  become 
the  wedge  of  the  World  Revolution."  Events  have 
since  proved  that  they  strongly  overrated  the  cleverness 
and  the  capability  of  the  Allies  for  large  scale  initiative. 
The  new  "  Holy  Alliance  "  of  the  bourgeois  Governments 
was  late  in  coming.  Moderate  Socialism  and  Labour 
opinion  strongly  favoured  the  Russian  Soviet  experi- 
ment. And  instead  of  an  Allied  armed  force,  there 
finally  came  to  Moscow  from  the  Paris  Peace  Conference, 
the  "  Prinkipo  "  proposal  of  January  22,  1919.  The 
"  bigot  "  Wilson,  far  from  taking  up  the  part  assigned 
to  him  by  the  Bolsheviks,  namely,  that  of  "  the  leader 
of  the  common  bourgeois  front  "  as  opposed  to  "  Lenin's 
front  of  the  World  Revolution,"  has  shown  an  un- 
mistakable leaning  towards  recognizing  the  Bolshevik 
Government  as  representing  the  real  will  of  the  Russian 
people. 

After  the  first  moments  of  astonishment  and  in- 
credulity, the  Bolsheviks  at  once  saw  their  chance  and 
tried  to  use  it.  They  never  refused  a  proposal  to 
come  and  to  discuss  matters — not  even  at  Brest- 
Litovsk.  Discussion  meant  propaganda.  We  have 
an  interesting  account  of  an  extraordinary  meeting  of 
a  Bolshevist  War  Council  at  the  Kremlin,  in  Moscow, 
upon  the  reception  of  the  Entente  invitation.  The 
story  is  told  by  a  Bolshevik  official,  who  enjoyed  Lenin's 
confidence,  but  who  served  the  Bolsheviks  against  his 
will  and  convictions.1  All  the  leading  Bolsheviks 


1  See  Daily  Chronicle  of  March  6th,  a  telegram  from  Geneva,  re- 
producing a  correspondence  from  Kiel,  whither  the  said  official  flew 
from  Moscow. 


116   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

were  present  :  Lenin,  Trotsky,  Chicherin,  Lunachar- 
sky,  Rakovsky,  Kamenev,  Karakhan,  and  Zinoviev, 
Trotsky  reported  on  the  military  and  political  situation. 
Although  the  Soviet  armies  were  able  to  hold  their 
own,  he  said,  they  would  hardly  prove  capable  of 
withstanding  an  attack  by  disciplined,  well-equipped 
troops  with  heavy  artillery.  The  internal  situation 
was  very  critical,  almost  desperate,  as  the  Soviet 
Republic  was  being  dangerously  undermined  by  famine, 
plague,  crime,  and  the  utter  moral  disintegration  of 
the  Russian  people.  Accordingly,  Trotsky  insisted  on 
sending  delegates  to  Prinkipo  in  order  to  obtain  a 
truce — a  new  "  breathing  space,"  to  use  Lenin's  utter- 
ance in  Brest-Litovsk  days — and,  if  possible,  recognition 
from  the  Allies.  The  chief  objection  of  Zinoviev  and 
Kamenev  was,  that  the  character  of  the  Soviet  Republic 
would  be  altered  and  eventually  destroyed  by  nego- 
tiations with  bourgeois  Governments.  But  Chicherin, 
Trotsky's  successor  in  the  Foreign  Office,  retorted  that, 
on  the  contrary,  such  negotiations  would  give  them 
new  means  of  struggle.  Recognition  would  enable 
the  Soviet  to  send  Ambassadors  to  all  European  capitals ; 
the  Ambassadors  would  enjoy  the  usual  prerogatives 
of  diplomatic  secrecy,  and  thus  ideal  opportunities 
would  be  given  for  effective  propaganda  and  the  pre- 
paration of  a  World  Revolution.  The  method  had 
been  already  successfully  used  by  Joffe  in  Berlin,  and 
by  Lit  vino  v  in  London.  And  then  Lenin  developed 
his  theory  of  using  that  method.  '  The  successful 
development  of  the  Bolshevik  doctrine  throughout  the 
world,"  he  declared,  "  can  only  be  effected  by  means 
of  periods  of  rest  during  which  we  may  recuperate  and 
gather  new  strength  for  further  exertions.  We  are 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  117 

to-day  in  the  position  of  a  victorious  army,  which  has 
conquered  two-thirds  of  the  enemy's  territory,  but  is 
forced  to  interrupt  its  offensive  in  order  to  establish 
new  lines  of  communication,  organize  new  depots,  and 
bring  up  more  heavy  guns,  ammunition,  and  fresh 
reserves.  I  have  never  hesitated,"  he  asserted,  "  to 
come  to  terms  with  bourgeois  Governments,  when  by  so 
doing  I  thought  I  could  weaken  the  bourgeoisie  and 
strengthen  the  proletariat  in  all  countries.  It  is  sound 
strategy  in  war  to  postpone  operations  until  the  moral 
disintegration  of  the  enemy  renders  the  delivery  of  a 
mortal  blow  possible.  This  was  the  policy  we  adopted 
towards  the  German  Empire,  and  it  has  proved  success- 
ful. The  time  has  now  come  for  us  to  conclude  a  second 
Brest-Litovsk  Treaty,  this  time  with  the  Entente. 
We  must  make  peace  not  only  with  the  Entente,  but 
also  with  Poland,  Lithuania,  and  the  Ukraine,  and  all 
the  other  forces  which  are  opposing  us  in  Russia.  We 
must  be  prepared  to  make  every  concession,  promise, 
and  sacrifice  in  order  to  entice  our  foes  into  the  conclusion 
of  this  peace.  They  will  proclaim  to  the  world  that 
they  have  subdued  us,  and  that  the  Soviet  Republic 
has  capitulated  unconditionally.  Let  them  !  We  shall 
know  that  we  have  but  concluded  a  truce,  permitting 
us  to  complete  our  preparations  for  a  decisive  onslaught 
which  will  assure  our  triumph."  A  decision  was  here- 
upon adopted,  which  has  since  greatly  served  pro- 
Bolsheviks  in  the  Allied  countries  to  confound  public 
opinion  and  really  to  entice  a  part  of  it  to  pass 
to  the  side  of  the  Bolsheviks :  namely,  it  was 
decided  not  only  to  accept  the  Entente's  proposal 
to  come  to  Prinkipo,  but  even  to  offer  financial 
guarantees  and  economic  concessions  to  the  "  greedy 


118   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

capitalists  " — in  such  regions  of  Russia  as  were  not 
possessed  by  the  Bolsheviks,  such  as  the  Urals  or 
Siberia. 

Did  the  Soviet  really  mean  to  be  false  to  the  prole- 
tarian "  character  of  the  Soviet  republic,"  and  thus 
to  sap  its  moral  and  theoretical  foundations  ?  Of 
course,  not  in  the  least.  Just  a  couple  of  weeks  before 
the  Kremlin  decision  was  taken  on  January  23rd 
Lenin  had  in  his  turn  sent  by  invitation  a  wireless  : 
not  to  discuss  matters  with  the  bourgeois  Governments, 
but  to  convene  the  first  Congress  of  the  new  (the 
"  Third  ")  International,  whose  origins  in  Zimmerwald 
and  Kienthal  we  already  know.  The  full  doctrine  of 
"  Revolutionary  "  Communism  is  here  restated.  The 
wireless  states  the  dangers  which  menace  the  World 
Revolution,  namely  :  (i)  the  "  complete  bankruptcy  of 
the  two  Socialist  and  Social  Democratic  parties  since 
the  war  and  the  Revolution  "  ;  and  (2)  the  "  coalition 
of  the  capitalist  States  in  order  to  stifle  the  Revolution, 
under  the  hypocritical  banner  of  the  League  of  Nations." 
The  very  reason  for  convoking  the  Third  International 
was  that  the  "  traitor  "  Socialists  were  convoking  the 
Second,  in  order  to  "  aid  once  more  their  Governments 
and  their  bourgeoisie  to  cheat  the  working  class." 
The  Moscow  invitation  reminded  the  pro-Bolsheviks 
in  Europe  that  "  the  old  International  divided  itself 
in  three  principal  currents :  (i)  That  of  Socialists 
"  openly  patriots,"  against  whom  "  only  a  fight  without 
mercy  is  possible "  ;  (2)  "  Minoritarians,"  led  by 
Kautsky,  always  wavering  and  incapable  of  taking  a 
decisive  line  of  action  :  towards  such  the  right  tactics 
consist  in  "  severely  criticizing  their  leaders,  detaching 
from  them  truly  revolutionary  elements,  and  syste- 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  119 

matically  disjoining  their  followers  "  ;  (3)  in  the  third 
place,  the  "  left  revolutionary  wing."  The  invitation 
to  take  part  in  the  Congress  was  addressed  to  this  last 
category :  to  Revolutionary  "  Socialists  and  Com- 
munists of  Zimmerwald  and  Kienthal  colouring."  It 
is  important  to  point  out  just  which  were  the  parties 
invited  from  different  countries  and  classified  with  the 
Bolsheviks.  Here  is  the  list  in  full,  as  it  is  given  in 
the  telegram  : 

1.  The  "  Spartacus  "  League  (Germany). 

2.  The  Bolsheviks,  or  the  Communist  party  (Russia). 
The  Communist  parties  of — 

3.  German  Austria. 

4.  Hungary. 

5.  Finland. 

6.  Poland. 

7.  Esthonia. 

8.  Latvia. 

g.  Lithuania. 

10.  White  Russia. 

11.  Ukrainia. 

12.  The  revolutionary  elements  of  the  Czechs. 

13.  The  Socialist  Democratic  party  of  Bulgaria. 

14.  The  Socialist  Democratic  party  of  Rumania. 

15.  The  left  wing  of  the  Social  Democratic  party  in  Serbia. 

16.  The  left  wing  of  the  Social  Democratic  party  in  Sweden. 

17.  The  Socialist  Democratic  party  in  Norway. 

1 8.  The  groups  recognizing  the  principle  of  class  struggle  in 
Denmark. 

19.  The  Communist  party  in  Holland. 

20.  The  revolutionary  elements  of  the  Workmen's  party  in 
Belgium. 

21  and  22.  Groups  and  organizations  belonging  to  the 
Socialist  and  Syndicalist  movement  in  France,  which  are,  in 
general,  united. 

23.  The  left  wing  of  the  Social  Democratic  party  in  Switzer- 
land. 

24.  The  Socialist  party  in  Italy. 

25.  The  elements  of  the  left  wing  of  the  Socialist  party  in 
Spain. 


120   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

26.  The  elements  of  the  left  wing  of  the  Socialist  party  in 
Portugal. 

27.  The  British  Socialist  Party  (the  elements  closest  to  us 
are  represented  by  MacLean). 

28.  I.S.P.K.   (England). 

29.  I.W.W.K.  (England). 

30.  I.W.W.  (Great  Britain). 

31.  The  revolutionary  elements  of  the  working  organizations 
in  Ireland. 

32.  The  revolutionary  elements  of  the  Shop  Stewards  (Great 
Britain) . 

33.  S.L.P.  (America). 

34.  The  elements  of  the  left  wing  of  the  Socialist   party   in 
America   (tendencies  represented  by  Debs  and  by  the  League 
of  the  Socialist  propaganda). 

35.  American  W.W.   (Workers  of  the  World  ?) 

36.  W.W.  in  Australia. 

37.  American  Workers'  International  Industrial  Union. 

38.  The  Socialist  groups  of  Tokio  and  of  Samoa,  represented 
by  Genkkayma  ;  and 

39.  The  Socialist  International  youth. 

These  were  the  elements  likely  to  represent  the 
'  Third  International,"  the  "  revolutionary,"  according 
to  Lenin.  His  views  as  to  the  common  platform  uniting 
all  these  groups  are  also  settled.  The  following  is  an 
abstract  of  principles  to  be  laid  down  as  the  basis  of 
the  new  "  organ  of  combat,"  which  was  to  be  started 
by  the  proposed  Congress  : 

1.  The  present  period  is  that  of  the  dissolution  and  the  break- 
down of  the  whole  capitalist  system  of  the  world. 

2.  The  task  of  the  proletariat  to-day  consists  in  immediately 
taking  possession  of  the  power  of  government,  in  order  to  sub- 
stitute for  it  the  apparatus  of  the  proletarian  power. 

3.  This  new  apparatus  of  government  must  incorporate  the 
dictatorship  of  the  working  class,  and  in  some  places  also  that 
of  petty  peasants  and  agricultural  workers,  i.e.  the  weapon  of 
a  systematic  overthrow  of  the  exploiting  classes. 

4.  The  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  must  pursue  the  direct 
expropriation  of  capitalism  and  the  abolition  of  private  owner- 
ship of  the  means  of  production,  which  implies — under  the  name 
of  Socialism — the  suppression  of  private  property  and  its  transfer 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  121 

to  the  proletarian  State,  under  the  Socialist  administration  of 
the  working  class  .  .  .  the  abolition  of  capitalist  agricultural 
production,  monopolization  of  great  commercial  firms.  .  .  . 

5.  In  order  to  secure  the  Socialist  Revolution,  the  disarmament 
of  the  bourgeoisie  and  of  its  agents,  as  well  as  the  general  arming 
of  the  proletariat,  are  necessary.1 

We  see  that  Lenin  was  right  while  asserting  that 
the  only  aim  of  his  proposals  to  the  Entente  was  to 
secure  a  longer  life  for  the  existence  of  the  Russian 
Bolshevist  experiment,  in  order  that  he  might  prepare 
the  "mortal  blow"  to  its  enemy,  "capitalism."  Before 
we  proceed  further,  it  is  important  to  learn  what 
was,  then,  the  answer  of  the  "  central "  and 
the  "  patriotic "  Socialists  to  that  attempt  to 
organize  international  Zimmerwaldism  and  to  make 
war  on  the  old  organization  of  the  "  Second  "  Inter- 
national. 

This  answer  has  been  given  by  the  Congress  of  the 
Second  International,  which  really  took  place  in  Berne 
on  February  3-8,  1919.  It  is  couched  in  terms  of  the 
resolution  proposed  by  Hjalmar  Branting,  and  voted 
by  the  great  majority  of  the  Conference.  Taken  as 
a  whole,  particularly  if  one  does  not  know  anything 
about  the  debates,  the  resolution  sounds  very  sa<is- 
factory.  As  the  text  of  Branting's  resolution  is 
not  sufficiently  known,  I  reproduce  it  here  in 
extenso  : 

The  Conference  welcomes  the  great  political  revolutions  in 
Russia,  in  Austria-Hungary,  and  in  Germany,  which  have 
broken  the  old  Imperialist  and  militarist  regimes  and  overthrown 
their  Governments. 

The     Conference    invites    the    Socialist    working    masses    of 


1  I  take  the  text  of  the  wireless  from  the  £cho  de  Paris, 
January  25,  1919. 


122   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

these  countries  to  develop  the  Democratic  and  Republican 
institutions,  within  whose  framework  the  work  of  the  Socialist 
transformation  may  be  accomplished.  Pending  these  decisive 
hours,  when  the  problem  of  the  Socialist  refounding  of  the 
world  assumes  the  character  of  burning  actuality  which  it  never 
has  had  before,  the  working  masses  must  unanimously  arrive 
at  a  clear  insight  as  to  the  paths  which  will  lead  them  to  their 
emancipation. 

In  complete  accord  with  all  Congresses  of  the  International, 
the  Berne  Conference  immovably  stands  upon  the  soil  of 
Democracy.  A  social  reorganization,  more  and  more  deeply 
imbued  with  Socialism,  cannot  be  achieved,  and  particularly  can- 
not keep  firm,  if  it  does  not  rest  upon  the  conquests  of  Democracy, 
and  if  it  does  not  strike  roots  in  the  principles  of  freedom. 

These  constituent  elements  of  every  Democracy  are :  liberty 
of  speech  and  of  the  Press,  the  right  of  union,  universal  suffrage, 
a  parliamentary  system  with  such  institutions  as  guarantee  the 
co-operation  and  the  expression  of  the  will  of  the  people.  The 
right  of  coalition,  etc.,  are,  at  the  same  time,  for  the  proletariat, 
the  weapon  of  their  class  struggle.  In  relation  to  certain  events 
which  have  recently  happened,  the  Conference  is  anxious  to 
emphasize  the  constructive  character  of  the  Socialist  programme. 
True  socialization  implies  a  methodic  development  of  different 
branches  of  economic  activity  under  the  control  of  a  demo- 
cratized nation.  Arbitrarily  to  take  possession  of  some  concerns 
by  small  groups  of  workmen  does  not  mean  introducing 
Socialism.  It  is  nothing  else  than  capitalism  with  numerous 
shareholders. 

The  idea  of  the  Conference  being  that  no  efficient  socialistic 
development  is  possible  except  under  the  law  of  Democracy, 
it  follows  that  from  the  very  beginning  one  must  eliminate  all 
methods  of  socialization  which  can  have  no  chance  of  winning  the 
adherence  of  the  majority  of  the  people.  The  danger  would  still 
increase,  if  such  a  dictatorship  leaned  upon  only  a  part  of  the 
proletariat.  The  unavoidable  consequence  of  such  a  regime  would 
be  the  paralyzing  of  all  forces  of  the  proletariat  by  a  fratricidal 
war.  The  end  will  be  a  dictatorship  of  reaction. 

The  Russian  delegates  have  proposed  to  send  to  Russia  a 
mission  composed  of  representatives  of  all  Socialist  currents 
and  nominated  by  the  Conference,  in  order  impartially  to  report 
on  the  economic  and  political  situation  in  Russia.  The  Con- 
ference is  fully  conscious  of  the  difficulties  inherent  in  such  a 
task.  Nevertheless,  considering  the  general  interest  which 
exact  knowledge  of  all  facts  connected  with  these  movements 
of  popular  unrest  presents  to  the  Socialist  proletariat  of  all 
countries,  the  Conference  gives  a  mandate  to  the  permanent 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  128 

Commission  to  organize  a  delegation  charged  with  this  mission 
to  Russia. 

The  Conference  decides  to  put  Bolshevism  on  the  order  of 
the  day  for  the  next  Congress,  and  gives  a  mandate  to  the  Per- 
manent Commission  to  prepare  the  question. 

But  the  Conference  wants  forthwith  to  draw  attention  to 
the  fact  that  famine  and  distress  let  loose  by  the  war  in  all  the 
world,  and  particularly  in  vanquished  countries,  were  bound  to 
generate  social  disorganization.  The  Governments  had  better 
realize  their  own  responsibility  in  these  cases  instead  of  using 
Bolshevism  as  a  bugbear,  and  under  this  name  denouncing 
all  risings  of  proletarians  brought  to  despair.  Counter-revolu- 
tionary forces  are  already  everywhere  at  work.  The  Conference 
warns  those  who  at  this  hour  hold  the  fate  of  the  world  in  their 
hands  against  the  dangers  of  a  policy  of  Imperialism  as  well 
as  that  of  the  military  and  economic  enslavement  of  peoples. 
The  Conference  invites  the  Socialists  of  the  whole  world  to 
close  their  ranks,  in  order  not  to  deliver  the  peoples  to  inter- 
national reaction  and  to  do  everything  for  Socialism  and 
Democracy  united  to  triumph  everywhere. 

All  this  is  excellent.  But  if  one  knows  the  precedents 
and  the  consequences  of  this  admirable  product  of 
Mr.  Branting's  statesmanlike  wisdom,  one  cannot  help 
seeing  in  it  the  case  of — 

Video  meliora,  proboque, 
Deteriora  sequor. 

("  I  see  and  approve  better  things:  I  follow  the  worse.") 

Mr.  Branting's  resolution  was  a  successful  and  happy 
attempt  to  achieve  a  compromise  on  five  other  resolu- 
tions :  by  Wells  (the  delegate  of  the  German  Majority), 
Kurt  Eisner,  Ramsay  Macdonald,  Renaudel,  and 
Branting  himself.  The  first  four  contained  elements 
which  remind  one  of  Lenin's  characteristics  of  the 
wavering  "  Centre."  Either  they  predicted  the  direct 
and  imminent  advent  of  Socialism,  or  they  engaged 
the  proletariat  of  the  whole  world  to  organize  themselves 
in  a  "  practical  "  way  to  start  an  immediate  struggle 


124   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

against  capitalism,  or  they  wished  the  Conference  to 
demand  the  socialization  of  production  and  the  seizure 
of  power  by  the  working  class,  or  they  made  it  the  aim 
of  the  Russian  Mission  "  to  study  thoroughly  the  Russian 
essay  in  social  revolution,"  thus  implying  the  possibility 
of  using  it  as  an  example  and  a  precedent,  and  from 
that  point  of  view  they  naturally  condemned  "  every 
intervention,  military  or  other,  by  the  Governments, 
whose  purpose  would  be  to  destroy  the  Socialist  regime 
of  other  countries."  Adler  and  Longuet  introduced  a 
counter-resolution  which  wound  up  with  a  protest 
against  Branting's  resolution.  They  represented  it  as 
a  danger  and  an  obstacle — which  it  really  was — in 
order  to  secure  the  adhesion  of  the  pro-Bolshevist  groups 
and  parties  mentioned  in  Lenin's  appeal.  They 
wanted  to  "  reconstitute  the  international  front," 
including  the  "  revolutionary  and  conscious  proletariat," 
i.e.  the  Zimmerwaldians.  So  far  as  Russian  Bolshevism 
is  concerned,  they  did  not  wish  to  base  themselves  on 
evidence  given  by  the  Russian  "  Mensheviks  "  ("  Minori- 
tarians ")  present,  as  being  one-sided  and  biased. 
They  insisted  on  both  sides  being  given  a  hearing 
before  any  decision  was  taken.  They  also  drew  attention 
to  the  fact  that  "  the  whole  parties,  like  those  of  Italy, 
Serbia,  Rumania,  Switzerland  (all  '  Bolshevist '  in 
their  majority)  absented  themselves  from  the  Congress 
of  the  Second  International."  Some  others,  they  said, 
"  submitted  repugnantly."  It  was  evidently  these 
latter  which  made  every  effort  in  order  to  prevent  the 
Conference  judging  and  sentencing  the  Bolshevist  theory 
and  practice.  Fritz  Adler  even  menaced  the  Com- 
mission by  stating  that  if  the  discussion  on  Bolshevism 
was  opened  in  plenum,  thirty-three  delegates  (they 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  125 

were  ninety-seven  in  all)  would  leave  the  Conference. 
Someone  else  proposed  to  adjourn  the  decision.  And, 
indeed,  the  majority  consented  not  to  count  the  votes 
given,  but  to  ask  the  parties  present  to  give  their  views 
and  their  motives  for  adhering  to  this  or  that  resolution, 
Branting's  or  Adler-Longuet's.  The  result  was  never- 
theless very  instructive.  The  following  section  sup- 
ported Branting  : 

Germany  (Majority  and  Mi-  France  (the  former  Majority) 

nority)  Finland 

Alsace  Georgia 

German  Austria  (half  of  the  Hungary 

Delegation)  Italy  (Socialist  Reformists) 

Argentina  Latvia 

Armenia  Palestine 

Bohemia  Poland 

Bulgaria  Russia 

Great  Britain  Sweden 

Denmark  Ukrainia 
Esthonia 

The  following  supported  Adler-Longuet  : 

France  (the  new  Majority)  Spain 

German  Austria  (the  other  half)     Greece 
Norway  Holland 

Now,  Lenin  was  evidently  right  in  stating  that  the 
probability  of  Bolshevism  winning  its  cause  before 
the  International  Socialist  tribunal  consisted  in  the 
vacillation  and  uncertainty  of  the  aims  and  methods 
of  the  so-called  "  Centre."  But  even  such  Socialists 
as  Albert  Thomas,  Renaudel,  and  other  delegates  of 
the  former  Majority,  were  wavering.  One  should 
read  their  written  declaration  on  the  subject  of 
their  participation  in  the  Berne  Conference  in  order 
to  see  the  contrast  between  the  clearness  and  con- 


126   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

sistency  of  their  negative  attitude  towards  Bolshevism 
and  the  internal  contradictions  and  confusion  in 
their  positive  statements  as  to  the  policy  and 
doctrine  of  International  Socialism.  Now,  as  ten 
and  fifteen  years  before,  we  see  them  again  "  affirm 
the  legitimacy  of  resorting  to  revolutionary  means, 
but,"  at  the  same  time,  "  recommend  legal  action, 
political  and  parliamentary,  which  originates  in 
universal  suffrage."  They  "  know  that  the  triumph 
of  Socialism  depends  on  the  evolution  of  capitalism 
itself,"  and  they  "  eliminate  the  destructive  methods." 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  they  find  it  possible  to  assert 
that  "  the  war  has  opened  all  brains  ...  to  the  con- 
ception that  the  hour  of  the  wholesale  transformation 
is  close  at  hand,  if  the  people  knew  how  to  act."  They 
thus  think  "  intimately  to  connect  revolutionary  ideal- 
ism, having  a  clear  view  of  total  emancipation,  with  a 
plea  for  patient  and  co-ordinate  action."  In  fact,  they 
do  not  go  beyond  a  purely  mechanical  juxtaposition 
of  conflicting  terms.  The  psychological  reason  for  this 
aberration  of  logic  is  evident :  il  faut  hurler  avec  les 
loups. 

This  also  enormously  increases  the  international 
danger  of  Bolshevism.  The  Bolsheviks  were  winning 
not  so  much  by  their  own  strength  as  by  the  weak- 
ness and  inconsistency  of  their  antagonists  within 
the  sphere  of  doctrine  shared  by  both.  They  were 
winning  in  the  common  audience  by  simplicity  and 
consistency  of  action,  following  upon  that  doctrine. 
The  Socialist  opponents  of  Bolshevism,  instead  of 
repudiating  the  very  doctrine  whose  inferences  clash 
with  reality,  preferred  to  resort  to  sophistic  explana- 
tions which  are  easily  used  as  convincing  proofs  of 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  WAR  127 

their  hypocrisy  and  selfishness,  which  are  intended 
to  "  cheat  "  the  proletariat.  Thus  real  demagogues 
go  for  honest  men,  while  sincere  Democrats,  not 
without  plausible  reasons,  become  suspected  of 
demagogy. 


PART    III 

BOLSHEVISM    OUT    FOR    A    WORLD 
REVOLUTION 

HOWEVER  it  be,  one  cannot  deny  that  the  atmosphere 
created  by  war  was  favourable  to  Bolshevist  propaganda. 
And  the  Bolsheviks  used  their  chance  to  the  full.  There 
is  an  element  of  secrecy  and  conspiracy  in  their  doings 
which,  of  course,  cannot  now  be  completely  revealed. 
But  it  is  sufficient  to  register  the  facts  of  outbreaks 
and  strikes  whose  connection  with  Bolshevism  was 
made  known  during  the  eight  months  that  separate 
the  Armistice  of  November  n,  1918,  from  the  Peace 
of  June  29,  1919,  in  order  to  see  how  widespread  their 
propaganda  really  is,  which  are  the  elements  that  share 
in  it,  what  was  their  chance  of  success  in  the  past, 
and  what  may  become  of  it  in  the  future.  One  need 
not  impute  to  Bolshevism  what,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
can  be  explained  by  the  spirit  of  time  or  by  a  natural 
upshot  of  some  long  process  of  struggle  But  if  even 
one  confines  oneself  to  the  specific  elements  of  the 
Soviet  doctrine  and  practice,  one  must  realize  that 
their  influence  is  being  felt  very  largely,  if  even  not 
very  deeply,  all  over  the  world.  I  do  not  mean  the 
Bolshevist  programme  only,  which  is  the  substitution  of 
a  rule  by  the  Soviets'  selected  rings  basing  their  power 

128 


129 

on  the  allegiance  of  the  "  conscious  minority  "  of  the 
working  class,  accompanied  by  the  disarming  of  the 
bourgeoisie  and  the  arming  of  the  proletariat,  for  the 
parliamentary  rule  by  democratic  majorities.  I  mean 
also  the  direct  and  often  personal  connection  of  and 
intercourse  between  the  organized  units  of  the  Bolshevist 
propaganda  in  the  chief  centres  of  the  Old  and  the 
New  World.  No  international  inquest  has  been  started 
so  far  in  order  to  detect  all  the  meshes  of  that  largely 
ramified  network  of  the  "  direct  action  "  policy.  Such 
knowledge  of  it  as  is  possessed  by  departments  of 
political  intelligence  in  different  countries  is  naturally 
kept  to  themselves.  But  even  the  piecemeal  evidence 
which  has  oozed  out  through  the  Press,  although  subject 
to  verification  and  correction,  is  already  ample  enough 
to  permit  of  important  cross-examination  and  corre- 
sponding inferences. 

Let  us  begin  with  quoting  in  full  an  important  docu- 
ment published  by  the  Gazette  de  Hollande  at  the  end 
of  March  1919.  It  contains  detailed  instructions  to 
Bolshevist  agents  abroad,  drawn  up  at  a  Council  held 
at  the  Kremlin  in  November  1918,  at  which  Lenin 
presided,  and  Trotsky,  Radek,  and  Chicherin  were 
present.  A  copy  of  this  document  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Ukrainian  General  Staff.  It  is  as  follows  : 

REVOLUTIONARY  WORK   OF  THE   BOLSHEVIST 
(COMMUNIST)    PARTY. 

The  work  of  the  Bolshevist  organizations  in  foreign  countries 
is  denned  as  follows  : 

i .  In  the  domain  of  international  politics  : 

(a)  To    support    Chauvinist    movements    and    national 
conflicts. 

9 


130  BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

(b)  To  provoke  agitation  in  order  to  bring  about  national 
conflicts. 

(c)  To  make  attempts  on  the  representatives  of  foreign 
Powers. 

By  these  means  internal  disturbances  and  coups  d'etat  will 
be  brought  about,  and  there  will  be  increased  Social  Democratic 
agitation. 

2.  In  the  domain  of  internal  politics  : 

(a)  To  compromise  by  all  possible  means  the  influential 
men  in  the  country,  to  make  attempts  on  the  men  in  power, 
and  to  provoke  agitation  against  the  Government. 

(b)  To    provoke  general  and  partial  strikes,   to  damage 
machinery  and  boilers,  and  to  spread  propagandist  litera- 
ture. 

By  these  means  coups  d'etat  will  be  facilitated,  and  it  will 
be  possible  to  seize  the  supreme  power. 

3.  In  the  economic  domain  : 

(a)  To   provoke   and    support   railway   strikes,    to   blow 
up  bridges  and  railway  lines,  and    do   everything   to   dis- 
organize transport. 

(b)  To  impede  and  prevent  the  provisioning  of  the  towns 
with  corn,  to  create  financial  difficulties  and  inundate  the 
market  with  forged  banknotes.     Special  Committees  should 
be  formed. 

In  this  way  an  economic  upheaval  will  bring  about  the  in- 
evitable collapse,  and  the  coup  d'etat  will  receive  the  sympathy 
of  the  masses. 

4.  In  the  military  domain  : 

(a)  To  conduct  a  vigorous  propaganda  among  the  troops. 
To  excite  conflicts  between  officers  and  men,  and  to  insti- 
gate attempts  on  superior  officers. 

(b)  To  blow  up   arsenals,  bridges,  railways,  and    powder 
magazines,    and    to   seize   consignments   of   raw   materials 
destined  for  factories  and  workshops. 

The  complete  annihilation  of  the  army  will  be  effected,  and 
the  soldiers  will  adopt  the  Social  Democratic  labour  programme. 

5.  Investigations  and  espionage  for  use  in  war-time. 

(a)  Investigations  and  espionage  of  a  strategic  nature  : 
in  the  army,  in  the  fortresses,  in  the  workshops,  exact 
estimate  of  armed  forces,  information  as  to  their  moral. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         181 

(b)  Investigations  and  espionage  of  a  tactical  nature,  at 
the  front  and  behind  the  lines. 

(c)  Investigations     and     espionage     in     naval    matters : 
information   regarding   location   of   squadrons,    dockyards, 
naval  bases. 


One  may  remark  that,  although  composed  a  year 
after  the  Bolshevist  conquest  of  Russia,  these  instructions 
very  faithfully  represent  the  German  pattern,  more 
suitable  for  the  World  War  than  for  the  World 
Revolution.  But  the  programme  is  obviously  revised 
and  enlarged  with  such  details  added  as  were  gained 
as  the  result  of  a  year's  experience  of  Bolshevist  propa- 
ganda abroad.  It  is  to  be  seen  that  if  considered 
from  this  point  of  view  nearly  all  the  methods 
indicated  in  the  instructions  find  their  counterpart  in 
the  real  propaganda  work  achieved  by  the  Bolshevist 
emissaries. 

i.  THE    "  FIRST    LINK    IN    THE    CHAIN  " — GERMANY 
AND   CENTRAL  EUROPE. 

The  "  first  link  in  the  chain  "  of  the  coming  World 
Revolution,  according  to  Lenin's  statement,  was  to 
be  furnished  by  Germany.  It  was  to  be  expected  that 
the  utmost  exertions  of  the  Bolsheviks  immediately 
after  their  gaming  possession  of  political  power,  would 
be  directed  this  way.  We  have  already  mentioned 
their  early  relations  with  the  German  "  Spartacists." 
We  saw  also  that,  since  M.  Joffe  settled  in  Berlin  as  a 
"  Russian  "  Ambassador,  in  May  1918,  these  relations 
have  become  systematic  to  the  great  offence  of  the  then 
official  Germany.  But  while  preparing  a  revolution  in 
Germany  M.  Joffe  had  to  deal  not  only  with  Spartacists, 


132  BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

who  were  a  small  and  uninfluential  political  group. 
We  even  learn  "  from  an  absolutely  reliable  source  " 
(via  Geneva,  see  Daily  Chronicle,  April  5th)  that  at 
that  time  "  the  Spartacists  were  by  no  means  on 
intimate  terms  with  the  Bolsheviks,  whom  they  dis- 
trusted on  account  of  their  secret  relations  with  Count 
Hertling's  Government."  "  Admiral  von  Hinze,  then 
Foreign  Secretary,  and  Herr  Streseman,  the  notorious 
National  Liberal  leader,  were  daily  guests  at  Joffe's 
well-supplied  table,  from  which  even  Independent 
Socialist  leaders  like  Haase  were  rigidly  excluded." 
M.  Joffe,  of  course,  had  good  reasons  for  not  letting 
Haase  appear  at  his  table,  because  he  was  working  with 
the  Independents  in  secret,  preparing  for  an  armed 
rising.  Preparations  were  made,  not  by  the  recognized 
leaders  of  the  party,  but  by  the  members  of  its  left 
wing,  including  such  local  leaders  of  the  Independent 
Socialists  as  Emil  Barth,  who  secured  a  considerable 
quantity  of  arms  and  munitions  which  were  distributed 
secretly  to  trusted  adherents,  and  kept  in  concealment 
in  expectation  of  the  moment  to  strike.  Barth  asserted 
that  the  money  for  this  purpose  was  given  to  him  by 
"  wealthy  sympathizers  with  the  Independent  Socialist 
movement."  But  a  special  correspondent  of  the 
Daily  Telegraph  who  gave  the  first  detailed  account  of 
the  German  outbreak  (Daily  Telegraph,  January  i,  1919), 
found  it  "  more  probable  that  hie  (Barth)  obtained  the 
money  from  Joffe."  "  However  that  may  be,"  he 
adds,  "it  is  certain  that  Joffe  gave  large  sums  of 
money  to  the  Spartacus  group,  so  that  the  preparations 
for  the  Berlin  Revolution  were  financed  mainly  by  the 
Russian  Bolshevists." 
The  Government  knew  that  very  well,  and  towards 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION  183 

the  end  of  October,  when  everything  was  ready  for  a 
rising,  they  decided  to  act.  They  discovered  Bolshevist 
literature  in  a  diplomatic  courier's  bag  which  burst 
open  in  the  street,  and  used  that  proof  of  M.  Joffe's 
guilt  in  order  to  "  say  him  farewell." 

Vorwarts  itself  was  finding  at  that  time  that  "  the 
position  of  Joffe  has  become  untenable."  After  his 
departure  from  Berlin  the  Wolf  Agency,  controlled  by 
the  new  Socialist  Government,  published  on  December 
3rd  (1918)  the  following  disclosure  : 

The  Bolshevist  Embassy  at  Berlin  did  not  satisfy  itself  with 
distributing  leaflets  for  propaganda,  but  were  also  buying  arms 
and  munitions.  In  a  compartment  occupied  by  the  "  departed  " 
Embassy  a  bundle  of  papers  was  found  containing  certain  bills 
bearing  dates  from  September  2ist  to  October  3ist,  1918,  and 
referring  to  150  Mauser  revolvers,  28  Brownings,  23  parabellum, 
and  27,000  cartridges.  Thus  once  more  the  declaration  of 
Radek  is  confirmed,  according  to  which  Article  2  of  the  Brest- 
Litovsk  Treaty  did  not  prevent  the  Russian  Government  from 
making  Revolution  propaganda. 

Far  from  being  offended  by  this  disclosure,  Joffe 
used  that  opportunity  to  compliment  himself  upon  his 
real  part  in  the  German  Revolution  which  he  vauntingly 
asserted  to  have  been  much  greater  than  is  admitted 
in  Wolff's  revelations.  He  answered  by  a  wireless  sent 
to  the  address  of  Haase  (Frankfurter  Zeitung,  December 
loth)  as  follows  : 

It  was  through  the  intermediary  of  the  Independent  Social 
Democratic  Party  that  I  was  able  to  extend  my  propaganda 
by  leaflets.  As  to  the  purchase  of  arms,  the  figures  published 
are  not  exact.  The  bills  discovered  referred  only  to  the  arms 
destined  for  Russia.  The  quantity  of  arms  bought  and  delivered 
to  the  Acting  People's  Commissary,  Mr.  Barth,  is,  as  you  know, 
far  larger.  Also  the  published  item  of  money  given  does  not  corre- 
spond to  reality  :  it  was  not  150,000  marks  which  ivere  handed 
over  to  Mr.  Barth  for  the  purchase  of  arms,  but  many  hundreds 


134    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

of  thousands  of  marks.  I  am  anxious  to  emphasize  these  two 
points  ;  I  congratulate  myself  and  I  rejoice  on  having  person- 
ally, in  accord  with  the  Independent  Ministers,  contributed  to 
the  victory  of  the  German  Revolution. 

But  this  is  not  all.  M.  Joffe  did  not  mention  that 
even  after  his  departure  (on  November  5th)  he  left  with 
his  friends  in  Berlin  considerable  sums  for  fomenting 
further  trouble  in  Germany.  This  was  formally  avowed 
by  Herr  Oscar  Cohn,  the  Independent  Socialist  leader 
and  solicitor  to  the  Bolshevik  Embassy  in  Berlin,  at 
that  time  Under-Secretary  of  State,  on  the  occasion  of 
a  new  outbreak  at  Christmas  1918.  M.  Cohn  declared 
that  M.  Joffe  had  4,000,000  marks  placed  at  his  disposal 
by  the  Soviet  for  propaganda  purposes.  The  day  before 
he  left  Berlin  M.  Joffe  attempted  to  draw  out  the 
balance,  but  failed  to  do  so,  purely  through  a  technical 
mistake  on  the  part  of  the  bank  officials  (Central  News, 
via  Amsterdam  ;  see  Daily  Telegraph,  January  2nd). 
The  Deutsche  Allgemeine  Zeitung  even  stated  that  the 
agents  of  the  Russian  Bolshevik  Government  still  had 
12,000,000  marks  available  for  further  propaganda 
in  Berlin.  It  may  be  that  this  was  a  new  influx  of 
money  brought  to  Berlin  by  Radek,  the  unofficial  envoy 
of  Mr.  Lenin — accredited  this  time  not  to  the  German 
Socialist  Government,  but  to  the  Spartacus  Group,,  who 
passed  the  frontier  at  the  end  of  December  without 
the  permission  of  the  German  Government.1 

1  A  further  disclosure  by  M.  Cohn  (see  The  Times,  March  7, 
1919)  may  account  for  the  difference  between  the  two  state- 
ments quoted.  I  render  it  in  the  authentic  text  of  The  Times 
Special  Correspondent  from  the  Hague,  March  2nd  :  "  Con- 
siderable alarm  has  been  excited  in  German  political  circles  by 
Thursday's  (February  27th)  proceedings  in  the  debate  on  the 
new  Army  Bill  at  Weimar  (at  the  Constituent  Assembly),  when 
Herr  Noske  extracted  from  the  Independent  Deputy  Cohn  the 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         135 

A  few  remarks  are  necessary  to  explain  this  new  stage 
of  the  Bolshevik  policy,  drifting  from  Kaiser  to  Barth, 
and  from  Barth  to  Liebknecht.  After  the  November 
victory  over  William  by  a  united  Socialist  front,  there 
followed  the  process  of  disassociation  among  the  Socialist 
parties.  The  Ebert-Scheidemann  Government  was 
that  of  the  Majority  Socialists,  and  the  "  Asrath " 
(Arbeiterund  Soldatenrath,  the  Workers'  and  Soldiers' 
Council)  was  composed  almost  exclusively  of  the  re- 
presentatives of  that  party.  The  Independents  took 
part  in  the  Ministry,  but  at  the  same  time,  in  connection 
with  the  Spartacists,  they  planned  a  new  outbreak 
against  the  Moderate  Socialists.  The  latter  were  not 
able  entirely  to  throw  overboard  their  relations  with 
the  radical  bourgeois  parties,  and  were  vehemently 
accused  by  the  Independents  of  drifting  to  the  Right. 
They  thought  it  their  duty  to  convoke  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  while  the  Spartacists  and  even  the  left  wing 
of  the  Independents  were  quite  determined,  following 
the  Russian  example,  not  to  permit  its  meeting.  The 
part  of  the  Bolshevist  agents  in  that  struggle  was  a 
foregone  conclusion. 

That  part  has  also  been  revealed  by  the  Bolsheviks 

astounding  confession  of  his  financial  relations  with  Joffe  when 
that  individual  was  the  Russian  Soviet  Envoy  at  Berlin.  Herr 
Cohn  said  that  he  acted  as  a  '  legal  adviser  '  to  the  Soviet 
Mission  at  Berlin,  and  that  Joffe,  on  leaving  the  German 
capital  on  November  5th,  transferred  to  him  a  '  round  million  ' 
for  continuing  payments  to  '  the  300  officials  of  the 
Mission,'  together  with  the  control  of  a  balance  of  10,500,000 
roubles  standing  to  Russian  credit  at  Mendelsohn's  Bank  in 
Berlin.  The  latter  sum  was  ostensibly  designed  for  the  support 
of  Russian  civilian  prisoners  in  Germany.  Heir  Cohn,  who 
said  he  regarded  these  balances  as  '  party  funds,'  openly 
admitted  having  applied  certain  sums  out  of  them  to  subsi- 
dizing two  needy  party  journals." 


136  BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

themselves.  The  Bolshevist  theorician  and  journalist, 
M.  Bucharin,  told  us  in  his  organ,  Severnaya  Communa, 
how  Liebknecht  had  gone  to  the  Russian  Embassy  in 
Berlin  for  support  when  the  Government  first  tried  to 
prevent  his  agitation  in  the  factories,  etc.  Bucharin 
says  that  Liebknecht  came  to  the  Embassy  in  the 
greatest  excitement,  asking  for  advice  and  support. 
It  was  then  unanimously  decided  that  Liebknecht 
should  be  supported  on  condition  that  he  declared  the 
following  policy  :  dissolution  of  the  Reichstag,  terror 
against  the  bourgeoisie,  army  officers,  and  against  all 
who  opposed  him.  Liebknecht  agreed  to  the  terms, 
and,  says  Bucharin,  he  was  at  once  furnished  with 
material  and  means  for  his  campaign  against  the 
Government  (see  the  telegram  from  Amsterdam, 
January  nth,  in  the  Sunday  Times,  January  I2th). 

It  is  obvious  that  then  it  was  decided  in  Moscow  to 
send  to  Berlin  the  new  unofficial  envoy,  M.  Radek. 
In  his  speech  to  the  crowd  on  November  gth  M.  Radek 
declared  that  himself  and  his  friends  were  "  invited 
to  Berlin,"  and  that  he  was  leaving  to-morrow  to 
"help  his  brethren."  His  arrival  was,  however,  post- 
poned ;  but  another  Russian  agent,  Herr  Eichorn,  who  had 
been  employed  at  the  Russian  Embassy  in  propaganda 
before  the  first  Revolution,  for  a  monthly  salary  of 
1,500  marks,  in  his  new  quality  of  Berlin  Police  Presi- 
dent, was  strenuously  preparing  the  second  Revolution 
— this  time  against  Scheidemann.  On  the  Christmas 
Eve  1918  the  sailors  from  Wilhelmshaven,  who  had 
been  quartered  at  the  Royal  Palace,  began  heavy  street- 
fighting.  Provoked  by  that  mutiny,  the  Government 
decided  to  apply  strong  measures,  which,  in  a  very 
short  space  of  time,  quelled  the  insurrection,  but  brought 


OUT  FOR   A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         137 

about  open  conflict  between  the  Moderate  and  the 
Independent  Socialist  members  of  the  Government. 
Three  Independent  Ministers  left  the  Cabinet.  The 
place  of  one  of  them  was  taken  by  Noske,  the  "  blood- 
hound." At  that  moment  M.  Radek  suddenly  appeared 
in  Berlin  at  the  opening  of  the  Workmen's  Congress  on 
December  3oth.  Liebknecht  proposed  the  organization 
of  a  new  "  Revolutionary  Communistic  Labour  Party 
of  the  German  Spartacus-bund."  "  Comrade  "  Radek 
seconded  in  an  address  delivered  in  the  name  of  the 
Russian  Soviet.  A  few  days  later,  on  January  5th, 
1919,  according  to  a  revelation  "  from  an  absolutely 
reliable  source,"  by  the  Geneva  correspondent  of  the 
Daily  Chronicle  (April  5th),  a  formal  treaty  was  concluded 
between  Liebknecht  and  Radek,  as  "  Plenipotentiary 
of  the  Russian  Soviet  Republic."  The  act  of  signing 
took  place  in  a  little  bare  room  of  Rosa  Luxembourg's 
on  the  top  floor  of  a  tenement  in  the  proletarian  quarter 
of  the  city.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  Lenin  under- 
took to — 

1.  Recognize  Liebknecht  as  President  of  the  German  Soviet 
Republic. 

2.  Furnish  important  funds  for  Spartacist  propaganda. 

3.  Place   specially    trained    agents    at    the    disposal   of    the 
Spartacists. 

4.  Order  Soviet  armies  to  take  the  offensive  and  cross  the  German 
frontier  in  support  of  a  simultaneous  Spartacist  rising  in  Berlin.1 

Liebknecht,  on  his  part,  pledged  himself  to — 

1.  Establish  a  Soviet  Government  in  Germany  immediately 
upon  his  advent  to  power. 

2.  Observe  faithfully  and  put  into  practice  all   the   teachings 
of  Lenin's  doctrine. 


1  On  that  very  day,  January  5th,  Vilna  was  taken  and  the 
Bolshevists  were  seriously  threatening  the  Polish  frontier. 


138    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

3.  Raise  a  Red  Army  of  500,000  men  to  be  placed  under 
the  supreme  command  of  the  Commissary  for  War  at 
Moscow. 

Such  was  to  be  the  beginning  of  the  World  Revolu- 
tion ;  and,  indeed,  a  rising  in  Berlin  was  once  more 
started  the  very  next  day  after  the  alleged  date  of  the 
signature  of  the  treaty.  In  Vorwarts  of  January  5th 
an  interesting  article  appeared,  signed  by  the  Socialist 
journalist  Friedrich  Stampfer,  which  opened  with  a 
vigorous  denunciation  of  the  Bolshevists'  attempt  to 
bring  the  Russian  Red  Army  to  Berlin.  Meanwhile 
the  three  promoters  of  the  World  Revolution,  Eichorn, 
Liebknecht,  and  Radek,  directed  the  military  operations 
on  the  streets  of  Berlin  from  their  headquarters  in  a 
great  brewery  in  the  Prenzlauerallee. 

The  results  are  well  known.  After  receiving  strong 
reinforcements  of  Government  troops,  Noske  again 
suppressed  the  rising.  It  took  about  ten  days  (January 
6th-i5th)  to  stifle  it.  The  last  day  Liebknecht  and 
Rosa  Luxembourg  were  murdered.  Eichorn  and  Radek 
went  into  hiding  in  Berlin.  The  Berlin  Government 
"  in  view  of  the  support  given  by  Russian  Bolsheviks 
to  the  Spartacus  mutiny,"  sent  (January  2Oth)  a 
wireless,  "  lodging  the  strongest  protest  against  this 
inadmissible  and  criminal  interference  in  the  internal 
affairs  of  Germany." 

"  There  are  irrefutable  proofs  to  hand  that  the  move- 
ment was  supported  by  Russian  official  personages, 
who  took  part  in  the  movement,"  says  the  message. 
It  winds  up  with  a  menace,  "  that  the  sharpest  measures 
will  be  taken  against  all  those  Russians  who  have  been 
guilty  of  supporting  the  revolutionary  movement." 
And,  indeed,  at  the  Russian  Legation  "  large  stores  of 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         139 

arms  and  ammunition  were  found.  Much  of  the 
ammunition  found  bore  Russian  marks.  On  a 
Russian  woman  arrested  16,500  marks  were  found." 
(The  Times  correspondent,  Copenhagen,  January 
I5th.) 

Nevertheless,  neither  the  Spartacists  nor  their 
Russian  friends  were  willing  to  stop  their  underground 
activity.  They  were  busy  preparing  for  the  third 
Revolution.  By  that  time  they  had  already  spread 
their  propaganda  all  over  Germany,  and  for  a  time  they 
transferred  their  leading  centres  from  Berlin  to  Wil- 
helmshaven — the  German  "  Kronstadt  " — to  Brunswick, 
Dusseldorf,  Munich,  etc.  Their  avowed  aim  was  flbw 
not  to  permit  the  meeting  of  the  Constituent  Assembly 
in  Weimar.  For  that  purpose  they  first  boycotted 
the  elections,  and  then,  when  the  elections  gave  a 
relative  majority  to  the  Old  Party  ("  Majority,"  which 
received  39*3  per  cent,  of  the  votes  cast),  and  strongly 
increased  the  bourgeois  parties  of  "  Democrats  "  and 
the  "  popular  Christian  "  Centre  (iQ'5  per  cent,  and  i8'9 
per  cent,  of  the  vote),  they  decided  to  follow  the  Russian 
example  and  to  disperse  the  Assembly  on  the  day  of 
its  meeting,  on  February  6th,  with  the  help  of  a  new 
rising.  It  was  to  start  from  different  centres  and 
converge  on  Weimar.  Beside  the  navy,  they  now  had 
the  support  of  some  groups  in  the  army,  and  a  section 
of  the  Independents  joined  them.  The  Government, 
on  their  part,  sent  troops  to  Weimar,  in  order  to  protect 
the  Assembly. 

At  that  stage  of  the  struggle  there  is  also  no  lack  of 
evidence  of  the  part  played  by  the  Bolshevist  propa- 
gandists and  revolutionaries.  Already,  on  January  gth, 
H.  E.  Bailey,  the  correspondent  of  the  Daily  Telegraph 


140  BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

(see  January  I3th),  communicated  r  that  "  Bolshevism 
is  on  the  Rhine,"  and  he  goes  on  to  say  :  "  The  leader 
of  the  rising  is  one  Ochel,  who  was  before  the  war  a 
marriage  broker,  during  the  war  a  deserter,  and  who 
has  lately  published  in  Holland  a  violent  pamphlet 
of  his  own.  A  Russian  Jewess  called  Feuerstein,  who 
came  to  Dusseldorf  in  some  capacity  connected  with 
the  Bolshevik  news  agency  in  Germany,  is  believed 
to  provide  a  link  with  Petrograd."  Fighting  went  on 
for  many  weeks  in  Dusseldorf. 

There  was  similar  news  from  Duisburg,  the  important 
Rhine  manufacturing  town  at  the  outlet  of  the  Ruhr 
Valley,  on  the  edge  of  the  then  neutral  territory  facing 
the  Belgian  zone  (Morning  Post,  February  2ist). 
"  Here,  too,  a  general  strike  has  been  proclaimed  by  the 
Spartacists  as  a  protest  against  the  advance  of  Govern- 
ment troops  from  Minister.  Mulheim,  Hamborn  (?),  and 
Dusseldorf  contain  a  large  number  of  revolutionaries. 
The  attack  on  Duisburg  was  a  Bolshevist  movement 
engineered  by  ex-soldiers  formerly  serving  on  the 
Eastern  Front,  and  a  number  of  Russians  who  have  been 
drifting  about  the  towns  in  the  neutral  zone.  Russian 
money  has  been  in  evidence  among  the  discontented  miners, 
ironworkers,  and  bargemen,  and  a  Russian  is  one  of  the 
most  active  members  of  the  Soldiers'  Council."  A  few 
days  later  (February  24th)  The  Times  correspondent 
communicates,  via  Stockholm,  that  "  in  the  Ruhr 
district  the  situation  has  improved  since  February  2ist, 

1  The  same  news  is  given  by  M.  W.  Nevinson  in  the  Daily 
News  on  January  I3th.  According  to  him,  Mr.  Ochel  was 
formerly  a  matrimonial  agent,  and  during  the  war  editor  of 
the  Kampf  in  Holland,  supported  by  a  Russian  Jewess  named 
Feuerstein,  who  has  arrived  from  Russia  as  agent  of  the 
Bolshevists,  apparently  with  money. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         141 

and  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  collapse  "  of  the  Spartacist 
attempt,  he  suggests,  is  "  that  the  funds  of  the  revolu- 
tionary committees  have  been  exhausted  since  Radek's 
arrest  and  imprisonment  "  (see  p.  142). 

We  meet  with  the  same  thing  in  Northern,  Eastern 
and  Southern  Germany.  Dr.  Schroder,  "  with  the  aid 
of  a  German-Russian  Bolshevist,  named  Sturm,  has 
both  organized  and  financed  the  Spartacist  movement 
in  Hamburg  since  November  loth  ;  most  of  the  funds 
are  provided  by  Sturm."  This  is  stated  by  The  Times 
special  correspondent  from  Berlin  (March  22nd).  At 
Dantzig,  according  to  the  same  witness,  "  a  Spartacist 
outbreak  had  been  arranged  for  a  certain  day,  and 
reports  of  the  secret  police  showed  that  the  adherents 
were  many  thousands."  The  argument  used  is  the 
same  as  in  M.  Sturm's  propaganda — shortage  of  food. 

The  attempted  dispersal  of  the  Weimar  Assembly 
on  February  8th  did  not  succeed,  owing  to  the  strong 
measures  taken  by  Noske.  But  in  Berlin  at  the  same 
time  a  new  rising  took  place,  and  again  the  evidence 
proves  the  participation  of  the  Russian  Bolsheviks  in 
this  third  outbreak,  carefully  prepared  in  advance.  Says 
the  correspondent  of  the  Daily  Chronicle  (March  loth) 
about  the  "  inner  story  "  of  that  movement  :  '  The 
most  striking  piece  of  information — and  it  is  incon- 
trovertible— is,  that  the  real  leadership  is  in  the  hands 
of  Russians.  With  Spartacist  rebels  as  their  lieutenants, 
they  have  their  headquarters  in  Berlin,  and  a  secret 
organization  whose  tentacles  stretch  northwards  to 
Bremen,  westwards  to  Dusseldorf,  and  southwards  to 
Munich.  Preparations  for  the  latest  coup  began 
immediately  after  the  murder  of  Liebknecht  and 
Rosa  Luxembourg.  The  loss  of  the  Spartacist 


142  BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

leaders  is  ...  turned  to  profit  by  the  Bolshevik 
chiefs.  It  gave  to  the  authorities  a  sense  of  false 
security,  and  made  it  easier  for  the  Russians  to 
carry  out  their  secret  preparations  for  the  next  move. 
Radek  was  soon  arrested  by  the  Government  (about 
January  2oth),  with  his  secretary  Gutemann,  upon 
whom  "  highly  important  documents  were  found," 
according  to  the  Berliner  Tageblatt.  But  his  prepara- 
tions for  a  new  outbreak  in  Berlin  were  so  well  made 
that  the  arrest  did  not  prevent  its  coming,  on  March  4th 
and  the  following  week.  The  Geneva  correspondent 
of  the  Daily  Chronicle  (March  I3th)  emphasizes  a  new 
feature  in  that  recurring  mutiny.  It  may,  he  states, 
"  be  fitly  described  as  a  revolt  of  the  underworld.  It 
was  chiefly  among  the  criminal  classes  that  Radek 
recruited  his  fighting  force.  So  minutely  had  the 
insurrection  been  prepared,  that,  in  spite  of  the  arrest, 
some  week  before,  of  Radek  and  eighty-six  Spartacist 
leaders,  the  remaining  Communist  chiefs  were  able  to 
execute  the  plans  without  difficulty.  The  Spartacist 
forces  amounted  to  about  10,000  men,  mostly  deserters, 
apaches,  and  escaped  convicts,  reinforced  by  sailors 
of  the  Naval  Division.  Emerging  suddenly  from  their 
haunts  in  the  cellars  and  slums  of  Berlin's  East  End, 
this  army  of  criminals  directed  its  attack  against  police 
stations,  and  spent  its  fury  on  policemen,  its  hereditary 
foes." 

The  insurrection  was  finally  stifled.  Their  last 
stand  was  in  the  Lichtenberg  quarter.  When  one  of 
the  Spartacists'  nests  was  here  denounced  and  thirty 
rebels  were  arrested,  it  appeared,  according  to  The  Times 
correspondent,  via  Stockholm  (March  I5th),  that  they 
were  "  under  the  leadership  of  a  Russian  Bolshevik, 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         143 

who   on   December   iSth  had  come  from   Russia  and 
obtained  provisional  Prussian  citizenship." 

The  position  of  the  Government  in  Prussia,  in  spite 
of  all  ominous  predictions,  was  now  strengthened,  owing 
to  the  decried  policy  of  Noske.  But  at  that  time  the 
Bolshevists  had  the  upper  hand  in  Bavaria.  The  signal 
here  was  given  by  the  murder  (on  February  2ist) 
of  the  Munich  Prime  Minister,  Kurt  Eisner.  On  the 
following  day  the  Munich  Women's,  Peasants',  and 
Soldiers'  Council  in  a  stormy  meeting  proclaimed  a 
Soviet  Republic  in  Bavaria.  The  part  of  the  Russian 
Bolshevists  in  that  move  can  be  guessed  from  the  fact 
that  the  Russian  Bolshevist,  Dr.  Levien,  had  been 
made  a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee.  When, 
a  few  days  later,  the  Congress  of  the  Councils  met  in 
the  Diet  building,  it  had  to  receive  a  deputation  of 
workmen,  which  asked  for  the  institution  of  relations 
with  Russia  and  the  occupation  of  the  Russian  Legation 
by  a  representative  of  the  Russian  Soviet  Republic. 
Dr.  Levien  declared  in  advance  to  a  correspondent 
(The  Times,  March  ist)  that  his  party  was  out  to  establish 
a  proletarian  dictatorship  in  Bavaria  ;  the  Diet  would 
cease  to  exist.  "  If,  however,"  he  said,  "  the  Congress 
(of  the  Councils)  thinks  fit  to  decide  that  the  Diet 
should  be  maintained,  we  shall  oppose  that  decision." 
The  Congress  began  by  ordering  the  Munich  newspapers 
to  publish  a  proclamation  "  to  Prussia  and  Scheide- 
mann,"  whose  slogan  was  :  "  Whatever  the  next  few 
days  may  bring  in  Munich,  no  intervention  by  the 
State  :  hands  off  Bavaria."  At  the  same  time,  measures 
were  taken  to  extend  the  movement  for  proclaiming 
"  Soviet  republics  "  all  over  Germany.  For  that  aim, 
a  general  strike  and  a  simultaneous  rising  was  announced 


144  BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

for  March  5th.  "  The  most  alarming  feature  in  the  whole 
situation "  a  Berlin  correspondent  states,  "  is  the 
similarity  of  the  proceedings  to  the  methods  of  the 
Bolshevists  in  Russia  "  (The  Times,  March  3rd).  The 
observation  is  completed  by  a  correspondent  from 
Berne  (the  same  day)  :  the  Communist  current  "  gains 
much  under  the  able  leadership  of  Levien."  On 
February  27th  Levien  declared  that  nothing  less  than 
the  annihilation  of  the  bourgeoisie  could  safeguard 
Socialism.  "  On  February  28th  Levien's  proposal 
for  the  establishment  of  a  Soviet  Republic  in  Bavaria 
was  lost,  though,  by  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
Council's  Congress  (234  votes  against  70).  But  then 
a  compromise  was  unanimously  accepted  to  the  effect 
of  building  a  National  Soviet,  as  a  sort  of  First  Chamber 
with  powers  to  initiate  legislation,  to  refer  parliamentary 
decisions  to  a  vote  of  the  whole  people,  and  to  co-operate 
in  the  administration.  On  March  3rd  the  ordered 
general  strikes  began  in  different  parts  of  Germany, 
in  order  to  second  M.  Levien's  rejected  proposal.1 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  how  the  strike  movement 
fell  flat  and  quiet  has  been  restored.  But  for  our  purpose 
it  is  important  to  register  The  Times  correspondent's 

1  The  precedents  of  Max  Levien,  the  virtual  dictator  of 
Munich,  told  by  the  Frdnkische  Tagespost,  are  as  follows  :  Max 
Levien  was  the  son  of  a  prosperous  Moscow  merchant.  He 
took  part  in  the  Russian  Revolution  of  1905  and  was  arrested, 
but  escaped  to  Munich,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Lenin  and  became  a  Bolshevist.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
he  served  in  a  Munich  regiment,  but  was  soon  sent  back  from 
the  front  to  a  military  camp.  In  November  1918  he  joined 
Eisner  in  Munich,  and  after  the  murder  of  the  latter  came  into 
prominence.  After  the  second  Revolution  Levien  was  invari- 
ably accompanied  by  an  armed  bodyguard.  In  spite  of  his 
extraordinary  brutality,  he  had  a  large  following,  especially  in 
decadent  literary  circles  of  Swabians. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         145 

news  (March  nth)  that  as  a  last  refuge  the  Spartacists 
"  succeeded  in  conveying  some  arms  to  Russian  prisoners 
encamped  at  Ruhleben,"  and  that  "  some  or  all  the 
5,000  Russians  there  got  away  during  the  night."  The 
Munich  authorities  later  on  (see  Morning  Post,  April  2ist) 
recurred  to  the  same  measure  :  they  "  have  liberated 
the  Russian  prisoners  of  war  at  Buchheim  Camp  and 
armed  them."  We  must  add  that  after  the  insurrection 
was  stifled  fifty-two  Russian  prisoners  were  shot  who 
had  participated  in  the  fighting  and  who  were  dressed 
in  German  uniforms  (see  Morning  Post,  May  Qth).  In 
Saxony,  after  order  had  been  restored  by  the  Govern- 
ment troops,  among  the  arrested  eighteen  Russians  were 
found.  Detailed  plans  had  been  discovered  in  the 
possession  of  the  ring-leader,  for  the  murder  of  the 
War  Minister  and  others,  also  for  the  union  of  Saxony 
with  the  Russian  Soviet  Republic  (The  Times,  April  I7th, 
correspondence  from  Berne). 

The  March  (6th-i3th)  Insurrection  in  Berlin  was 
not  brought  to  a  close  by  a  compromise  which  the 
Independents  were  proposing  ;  Noske  insisted  on  an 
"  unconditional  surrender "  after  the  movement  had 
been  crushed  with  arms.  The  Government  has  not 
become  weaker  for  that.  On  the  contrary,  this  time 
the  Bolshevist  attempts  at  introducing  a  Soviet  Republic 
in  Germany  were  definitely  disposed  of.  The  complicity 
of  the  Independents,  and  the  open  alliance  of  the 
Spartacists  with  the  Russian  Bolsheviks,  have  helped 
very  much  to  discredit  both  groups  in  public  opinion. 

The  confident  predictions  of  a  new  "  June  Revolution  " 
did  not  materialize.  The  programme  for  this  Revolution 
was  now  ready  :  the  recognition  of  the  Council's  system, 
the  establishment  of  direct  economic  and  political 

10 


146  BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

relations  with  the  Soviet  Russia,  the  disbandment 
of  Government  forces,  the  disarmament  of  the  police, 
and  the  establishment  of  a  revolutionary  workmen's 
army.  More  than  once  this  programme  has  been  pro- 
claimed in  resolutions  of  working  men's  meetings, 
conferences,  and  congresses.  A  general  strike  was 
repeatedly  tried  to  carry  the  programme.  But  the  good 
common  sense  of  the  great  majority  of  the  population 
and  the  sound  feeling  for  self-preservation  amidst  what 
may  be  described  the  most  dangerous  crisis  in  Germany's 
history  have  preserved  her  from  chaos  and  serious  civil 
war.  The  apparent  exception,  such  as  a  temporary 
triumph  of  the  extremist  tendencies  in  Munich,  only 
serves  to  confirm  the  rule.  The  whole  of  Bavaria 
finally  proclaimed  itself  against  the  small  throng  of 
Levien's  followers.  The  Constitutional  Bavarian 
Ministry,  that  of  Hofmann,  has  been  reconstituted. 
The  overthrow  of  the  Soviet  Government  (on  April  nth) 
in  Munich  passed  off  extremely  quietly,  nearly  without 
resistance.  '  The  house  of  cards  of  the  foreign  intriguers 
has  collapsed,"  the  Premier's  proclamation  ran.  "  All 
decrees  of  the  Soviet  Government  are  annulled." 

It  is  true  that  within  forty-eight  hours  the  Soviet 
was  again  in  power,  but  the  Communist  leaders  them- 
selves admitted  that  the  maintenance  of  their  regime 
was  "  in  any  circumstances  unlikely,"  and  that  "  the 
movement  was  premature."  On  May  ist  Munich  was 
captured  by  Government  troops — Bavarian,  Wiirtem- 
berg,  and  Prussian.  This  time  the  Communists  defended 
themselves  desperately,  as  it  was  their  last  chance. 
Their  leaders  were  arrested,  sentenced  to  death  or  killed 
by  the  crowd,  for  having  had  in  their  turn  murdered 
and  mutilated  the  hostages.  The  execution  of  Levine 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION        147 

(not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Russian  Bolshevik 
leader)  a  month  later  provoked  strong  protests  on 
the  part  of  all  Socialist  parties,  but  all  their  appeals 
to  a  new  general  strike  were  of  no  consequence.  They 
were  unable  to  undermine  the  power  of  Scheidemann- 
Noske's  Government,  and  only  demonstrated  their  own 
weakness. 

2.  THE   BOLSHEVIST  SCHEME  FOR  FEEDING  AND 
CONQUERING  GERMANY. 

The  chief  trump  of  Russian  Bolsheviks  was  thus 
beaten.  Germany  was  evidently  unwilling  to  serve  as  a 
"  first  link  in  the  chain  "  of  the  World  Revolution. 

It  may  have  come  out  otherwise,  if  promises  given  by 
the  Bolsheviks  to  Spartacists  and  Independents  could 
be  fulfilled.  They  were  two :  feeding  Germany  and 
sending  a  Red  Army  to  help  German  revolutionaries. 
It  sounded  rather  queer  that  starving  Russia  should 
seriously  think  of  feeding  Germany ;  but  the  idea 
of  it  was  conceived  very  early  as  a  constitutive  part 
of  the  whole  scheme  of  the  World  Revolution.  A  few 
days  after  the  release  of  Liebknecht  from  his  prison, 
on  October  27,  1918,  the  Petrograd  Truth  (Pravda) 
states :  "  We  must  directly  and  in  a  business-like 
manner  attend  to  it  in  order  that  we  shall  have  a  pro- 
vision of  grain  for  German  revolutionaries,  and  forward 
that  supply  to  help  Liebknecht  and  Adler."  At  the 
same  time,  a  meeting  of  different  Soviet  organizations 
in  a  provincial  town  of  Kostroma  resolved  "  to  build 
the  grain  fund  of  the  World  Revolution,  to  assign 
for  it  one-tenth  of  all  grain  stores  in  the  province, 
and  to  oblige  every  landowner  to  deliver  for  that  fund 


148   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

one-hundredth  of  grain  at  his  disposal.  .  .  .  All 
provinces  must  carry  the  same  decision  .  .  .  the  fund 
must  be  called  '  The  Grain  Fund  of  Karl  Lieb- 
knecht  and  Frederic  Adler.'  This  will  show  that  food 
is  not  destined  for  Imperialists  and  compromisers  of 
Germany  and  Austria,  but  for  revolutionary  working 
people  who  follow  Liebknecht  and  Adler."  It  is 
known  that  "  compromisers "  of  the  Scheidemann 
type  have  contemptuously  refused  the  Bolshevist 
proposal  to  send  food  for  German  Revolution,  and 
preferred  to  address  themselves  to  Americans.  In  their 
turn  they  used  the  Brussels  Agreement  with  the  Allies 
on  the  delivery  of  provisions  for  political  purpose 
of  defeating  strikes.  A  stipulation  was  introduced 
in  the  Agreement  that  no  share  of  the  provisions  shall 
reach  workmen  on  strike,  or  those  unemployed  who  are 
unwilling  to  accept  work.  Revolutionary  organizations 
were  perfectly  right  to  denounce  that  measure  as  a 
weapon  specially  aimed  at  them,  and  while  trying  to 
impede  the  import  of  food  from  the  Allies  they  never 
stopped  promising  their  adherents  that  "  grain  will  come 
from  the  Russian  Bolsheviks."  x 

Anyhow,  grain  could  come  from  Russia  only  with  the 
Bolshevist  Army,  and  there  was  already  a  "  Red  Army  " 
in  existence.  By  the  spring  of  1919  it  made  out 
about  500,000  bayonets.  The  "  democratization  "  which 
helped  to  dissolve  the  Russian  Army  of  1917  has  been 
since  long  thrown  overboard  by  Trotsky.  The  dis- 
ciplinary power  of  the  commanding  staff  was  nearly 
completely  restored.  The  officers  were  closely  watched 

1  See  e.g.  The  Times,  March  igth  and  March  22nd  (the 
Hamburg  strike  against  the  sailing  of  ships  to  fetch  food),  the 
Morning  Post,  March  6th,  the  Daily  News,  March 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION  149 

by    "  Communist  "    commissaries,    and    shot    at    the 
slightest     suspicion.     The     newly-conscripted     soldiers 
fought  unwillingly,  and  were  always  ready  to  desert,  or 
to  go  to  the  other  side.     But  they  were,  too,  threatened 
by  summary  executions  of  their  comrades  at  the  first 
attempt  to  treason.     Last,  not  least,  if  there  was  any 
motive  which   was  likely  to  arouse  the  patriotic  feeling 
of  that  rather  heterogeneous  mass,  it  was,  to  be  sure, 
the    idea    of    still    fighting    the    Germans — -no    matter 
whether  they  were  "  Imperialists  "  or  "  Communists." 
There   existed   also   a   scheme   for   fighting   German 
"  Imperialists  "  from  outside,  all  along  with  preparing 
a    revolutionary    outbreak    from    within.     When,    on 
February  I2th,  Karl  Radek,  who  was  busy  preparing 
the  "  third  Revolution  "  in  Germany,  was  arrested  in  his 
Spartacist-Bolshevik  propaganda  bureau  in  Wilmersdorf 
(Berlin),  letters,  pamphlets,  and  lists  were  discovered 
at  his  office,  which  proved  that   "  a  great  Bolshevik 
revolutionary   stroke   throughout   Germany   had   been 
planned  to  take  place  in  the  spring,  whilst  at  the  same 
time  a  Bolshevik   army  was    to  attack  Germany  on  the 
Eastern  frontier."     (Wireless  Press  from  Berlin,  Daily 
Telegraph,  February  I5th.)     Another  German  Govern- 
ment wireless  message,  sent  a  week  later  (Daily  Telegraph, 
February  22nd),  says  :    "  Stockholm  reports  that  the 
Bolshevik  troops  have  planned  a  great  spring  offensive. 
Revolution   is   to   be    carried    to    Bohemia,    Slavonia, 
Hungary,    and    Austria.     The    offensive    is    to    start 
simultaneously    against    Poland    and    against    Eastern 
Prussia.     The  munition  factories  are  working  feverishly. 
The  telegram  of  The  Times  correspondent  from  Helsing- 
fors    (from   February    I7th)    states   that    an    offensive 
movement  was  at  that  very  time  started  against  the 


150    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Baltic  Provinces.    "  Trotsky,  on  February  I5th,  ordered 
the  Bolshevist  Army  in  Esthonia  and  Livonia  to  attack 
on    all   sectors    of    the    Narva,    Pskofl,  and    Wolmar 
fronts.  .  .   .  The     order    to     attack     was     given     in 
accordance    with    a   resolution    passed     at     a     secret 
meeting  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet  on  February  I2th."  * 
Another    telegram    from    Helsingfors    (The    Times, 
March  3rd)   communicates  that  on  February  25th,  at 
the    Pan-Russian    Soviet    Congress,    Trotsky    made    a 
speech   on   foreign   policy,   in  which   he   reviewed   the 
military  situation.     He  said  :     "  We  have  four  tasks 
to  achieve  :  to  advance  to  the  coasts  of  Murman  and 
Archangel ;    to  take  possession  of  the  river  exits  to 
the  Black  Sea  ;   to   reach  the  former  frontiers  of  East 
Prussia ;     and   to   chase   the  enemy   from   the   Urals. 
We  shall  achieve  them,  cost  what  it  may." 

Preparations  were  being  made,  too,  in  East  Prussia 
at  that  time  in  order  to  meet  the  coming  Red  Army. 
Reuter  sent  news  from  Basle  on  February  27th  that, 
"  according  to  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung  throughout 
East  Russia,  pamphlets  are  being  distributed  calling 
on  the  people  to  destroy  the  railways  '  in  order  to  hasten 
the  victory  of  the  Communists  in  Germany.'  Russian 
Bolsheviks  are  also  reported  to  be  in  East  Prussia  in 
large  numbers."  Very  interesting  and  much  more 

1  Mr.  Ransome  states  that  most  of  the  Soviet  leaders  have 
at  that  very  time  (February  loth)  "  in  spite  of  themselves, 
acquired  a  national  domestic  point  of  view  " — namely,  that 
"  they  were  thinking  less  about  World  Revolution  than  about 
getting  bread  to  Moscow.  Only  continued  warfare  forced 
upon  them  could  turn  their  desire  for  peace  into  desperate, 
resentful  aggression  "  (Six  Weeks  in  Russia,  p.  33).  Whatever 
the  motive,  or  their  psychology,  the  "  World  Revolution  " 
continued  to  be  on  the  day  order.  It  was,  moreover,  the  only 
justification  and  guarantee  for  further  existence  of  Bolshevism 
(see  pp.  54-6,  his  talk  with  Mr.  Bucharin). 


151 

detailed  intelligence  on  the  subject  has  been  wired  to 
The  Times  by  their  Special  Correspondent  from  the 
Hague  (on  March  I7th).  It  runs  as  follows  ; 

According  to  the  advices  from  Berlin,  Otto  Petz,  President 
of  the  German  Soviet  in  Petrograd,  has  reported  to  Lenin  and 
to  Trotsky  that  Radek  has  succeeded  in  forming  twenty-eight 
separate  Bolshevist  organizations  in  Germany.  The  ultimate 
purpose  of  these  organizations  is  "  to  spread  the  idea  of  a  World 
Revolution  of  the  proletariat  deep  into  the  heart  of  the  occupied 
regions  of  Western  Germany."  The  same  report  estimates 
that  up  to  January  2oth  no  less  than  11,000,000  roubles 
(nominally  {i,  100,000)  had  been  expended  for  Radek's  "  mission 
to  Germany." 

The  German  Soviet  in  Petrograd  publishes  the  news-sheets, 
all  of  which  are  printed  in  German  and  are  largely  smuggled 
into  East  Prussia.  The  greater  part  of  East  Prussia,  and  several 
districts  in  West  Prussia,  are  now  under  martial  law.  In 
Petrograd  the  German  Soviet  has  also  established  a  Bolshevist 
school  for  German  war  prisoners.  About  10,000  of  these  men 
are  expected  to  pass  through  the  school,  and  as  soon  as  they 
have  completed  their  training  they  are  sent  across  the  frontier 
to  assist  in  the  work  of  propaganda.  At  Nijny  Novgorod  and 
Samara  there  are  collecting  centres  for  German  prisoners  who 
have  returned  from  Siberia,  and  these  are  being  formed  into 
the  so-called  "  Western  Communist  Division,"  which  is  to  be 
20,000  strong.  This  division  is  being  drilled  for  service  in  the 
event  of  a  Bolshevist  invasion  of  Germany,  but  will  also  be 
available  for  propaganda  work.  In  Petrograd,  moreover,  the 
likeliest  recruits  are  being  drafted  to  a  so-called  "  Liebknecht 
Brigade,"  which  is  now  about  3,000  strong.  The  whole  system 
is  so  arranged  that  German  prisoners  have  no  desire  but  to 
join  these  fighting  formations  or  starve. 

The  use  of  war  prisoners  for  Communist  aims  is  here 
the  same  as  had  been  made  by  the  Germans  of  the 
Ukrainian  prisoners  for  the  invasion  of  the  non- 
Bolshevist  Russia,  or,  as  we  have  just  seen,  having 
been  made  by  the  Spartacists  of  the  Russian  prisoners 
to  support  the  Communist  uprisings.  A  very  ambiguous 
part  in  the  game  was  played  by  German  military  units 
in  the  occupied  provinces  of  Russia.  Whatever  be 


152   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

the  opinion  of  their  Government — and  it  hardly  could 
remain  pro-Bolshevist  facing  the  Spartacist  danger 
inside — they  very  often  quite  openly  helped  the 
Bolsheviks  in  their  offensive  movement  towards 
the  German  frontier.  In  an  official  communique 
issued  by  the  Provisional  Governmet  of  Latvia  (see 
Morning  Post,  January  i,  1919)  we  meet  with  a 
formal  complaint  that  "  the  German  Authorities  are 
acting  in  conjunction  with  the  Bolsheviks."  As 
proofs  are  given  that  the  Germans — 

(i)  Inform  the  Bolsheviks  of  the  precise  date  of  the  evacua- 
tion of  every  place  ; 

(ii)  Leave  to  the  Bolsheviks  railway  material  (Dorpat,  Dvinsk, 
Rezekhne),  armoured  trains  (Walk),  arms,  ammunition, 
food,  and  clothing  ; 

iii)  Prepare  systematically  the  handing  over  of  the  country 
to  the  Bolsheviks  (Riga)  ; 

(iv)  Often  give  up  the  authority  to  the  Bolsheviks  even  before 
the  evacuation  of  the  place  by  military  forces  (Dvinsk, 
Vilna,  Minsk)  ;  and 

(v)  Share  food^and  other  goods  with  the  Bolsheviks. 

One  need  not  put  in  doubt  the  veracity  of  all  these 
statements,  which  I  might  confirm  from  personal 
observation  in  the  South  of  Russia.  But  the  motive 
of  the  tactics  mentioned  may  not  always  be  a  desire 
to  help  the  Bolsheviks.  A  Riga  telegram  to  the 
Localanzeiger  (The  Times,  January  3rd)  is  perfectly 
right  in  its  assertion  that  "  the  obvious  desire  of  the 
German  troops  is  to  be  sent  home  as  quickly  as  possible. 
They  do  not  wish  to  be  involved  in  any  conflicts  with 
the  Bolshevists."  The  same  reason  has  been  shared 
by  the  great  majority  of  the  Allied  troops  worn  out  by 
the  protracted  war.  We  do  not  know  whether  the 
Bolshevist  spring  offensive  against  Poland  had  been 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         153 

really  planned  "  some  months  ago  (i.e.  at  the  end  of 
1918),"  as  a  result  of  "  a  secret  agreement  "  between  the 
German  General  Staff,  represented  by  Hindenburg  and 
the  Soviet  rulers  in  Moscow  (see  Daily  Chronicle,  March 
8th,  correspondence  from  Geneva).  But  we  also  cannot 
dismiss  the  official  denial  by  the  German  Government 
of  any  "  secret  understanding  "  with  the  Soviet  Republic, 
and  its  assertion  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  "  has  broken 
off  relations  with  the  Soviet  Republic,  following  upon 
its  having  been  ascertained  that  the  latter  had  used 
its  political  representative  in  Berlin  (evidently  Radek) 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  about  a  continuation  of 
the  war  by  means  of  propaganda  against  the  Entente  " 
(Daily  News,  January  7th).  We  learn  the  same  from 
Herr  Barth.  Speaking  at  a  meeting  of  Independent 
Socialists,  he  said :  "  The  Independents  prevented 
the  Government  from  declaring  war  on  Russia, 
which  it  intended  to  do  some  weeks  ago,  and  again 
five  days  ago,  when  the  Poles  requested  us  to  supply 
them  with  arms."  Herr  Barth  even  expressly  men- 
tioned, as  "  M.  Radek's  view,"  the  opinion  "  that  the 
German  and  Russian  States  should  offer  united  re- 
sistance to  the  Entente  "  (Daily  Telegraph,  January 
6th).  The  fact  is,  that  the  traditional  policy  of 
Germany  toward  Bolshevism  consisted  in  supporting 
it  and  using  it  for  their  own  aims  ;  but  just  at  that 
time,  owing  to  the  acute  struggle  of  the  Spartacists 
in  conjunction  with  the  Bolsheviks,  against  the 
Scheidemann-Noske  Government,  this  latter  was 
shifting  the  ground  and  was  really  on  the  verge  of 
declaring  war  on  Bolshevist  Russia.  The  Spartacists 
and  the  Bolsheviks  tried  to  join  hands  in  East  Prussia  ; 
the  Government ;  was  obliged  to  do  something  in  order 


154    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

to  prevent  their  union.  The  situation  is  made  quite 
clear  by  the  following  correspondence  from  Berlin 
(on  March  29th)  in  the  Daily  Chronicle  : 

It  is  ominous  that  it  is  in  the  eastern  parts  of  the  country 
that  the  greatest  efforts  are  being  made  (by  the  Spartacists) . 
In  East  Prussia  the  Spartacist  movement  takes  on  more  and 
more  the  definite  character  of  the  Russian  Bolshevism.  The 
Spartacists  are  endeavouring  to  get  into  and  preserve  definite 
touch  with  the  Russian  Bolsheviks,  and  the  hope  is  entertained 
of  bringing  about  a  move  of  Russian  Bolshevik  troops  towards 
and  into  Germany.  .  .  .  Some  sort  of  connection  has  been 
already  achieved  with  the  Russian  "  comrades,"  and  it  is  obvious 
that  there  is  considerable  activity  on  both  sides  to  achieve  this 
end.  Recent  events  in  Konigsberg,  for  example,  have  not 
received  a  great  deal  of  attention.  The  world  heard  of  the 
occupation  of  the  city  by  German  Government  troops,  and  of 
some  street  fighting,  etc.,  without  attributing  great  importance 
to  the  matter.  The  Russian  Bolsheviks  boast  of  their  close 
alliance  with  the  German  Spartacists,  and  the  action  in  Konigs- 
berg was  undoubtedly  undertaken  to  combat  the  establishment  of 
communications  by  way  of  Kovno  and  Konigsberg  between  the 
Spartacists  and  the  Bolsheviks. 

I  may  add  a  quotation  from  the  speech  of  Mr.  Zinoviev, 
the  Petrograd  dictator,  on  the  occasion  of  the  festivities 
on  March  ist  to  celebrate  the  assassination  of  Alex- 
ander II  in  1881.  Speaking  at  an  official  assembly 
of  the  Soviet,  the  President  of  the  Petrograd 
"  Commune  "  said  (see  The  Times,  March  6th)  : 

Our  heroic  army  is  destined  to  fight  not  only  here  in  Russia, 
but  also  in  the  streets  and  squares  of  London,  Paris,  and  Rome, 
for  the  great  ideal  of  Communism.  Recently,  by  concentrating 
a  considerable  number  of  troops  near  the  Finnish  frontier  under 
the  guise  of  manoeuvres,  we  have  said  to  all  Europe  :  "  Beware, 
bourgeoisies,  before  you  touch  the  Red  Lion.  You  shall  not 
take  Petrograd  except  by  passing  over  our  dead  bodies."  Thanks 
to  our  efforts,  we  find  ourselves  to-day  in  direct  communication 
with  the  German  Spartacists,  and  soon  our  actions  will  be  co-ordin- 
ated. Unfortunately,  during  the  last  days  of  the  war,  Hindenburg 
succeeded  in  seizing  on  our  eastern  Prussian  frontier  wagons 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         155 

and  arms  destined  for  the  Red  Army  ;  but  we  shall  soon  replace 
them,  and  then  the  bourgeoisies  of  London  and  Paris  will  tremble 
anew. 

According  to  a  telegram  from  Stockholm  (Daily  Telegraph, 
March  loth),  Trotsky  also  at  that  time  boasted  in  a 
speech  that  "  the  Red  Army  will  soon  march  victoriously 
over  the  whole  world,  and  Russian  Bolsheviks  will 
fight  on  the  barricades  soon  to  be  erected  in  the  streets 
of  London,  Berlin,  Rome,  and  Paris." 

It  would  be  too  long  to  dwell  upon  all  preparatory 
measures  taken  by  the  Bolsheviks  for  their  invasion 
in  the  spring  into  newly-built  border  States  of  Russia. 
But  we  must  still  mention  their  negotiations  in  February 
and  March  with  the  Ukraine  directorate  in  order  to 
conclude  an  alliance  "  against  attack,  in  particular 
by  the  Entente,  Poland  and  Rumania,"  to  last  "  until 
the  moment  when  every  nation  in  Europe  declares  in 
favour  of  the  revolution  "  (a  proposal  by  the  extreme 
Ukrainian  parties  despatched  to  Lenin  via  Budapest, 
see  the  Daily  Telegraph,  April  gth,  a  telegram  from 
Warsaw).  It  is  also  important  to  touch  upon  the 
Bolshevist  activity  in  Poland,  for  which  a  vote  of 
27,000,000  roubles  per  month  is  said  by  Reuter  (Paris, 
March  26th)  to  have  been  without  discussion  passed 
by  the  Central  Executive  of  the  Soviets.  The  account 
of  this  propaganda  given  by  the  Warsaw  correspondent 
of  the  Morning  Post  (March  27th)  is  so  typical,  that 
we  may  be  permitted  to  quote  that  evidence  in  full : 

About  the  middle  of  December  there  appeared  in  Warsaw 
a  Russian  representing  himself  as  the  agent  of  an  important 
Russian  charity  interested  in  relieving  the  distress  of  the  thou- 
sands of  Russians  who  were  at  that  time,  and  still  are,  swarming 
through  Poland  homeward  bound  from  Germany.  This  man, 
who  from  the  first  professed  the  strongest  sort  of  Monarchist 


156    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

views,  was  amply  financed,  and  asserted  that  he  had  succeeded 
in  bringing  a  large  amount  in  Tsar  roubles  across  the  border 
by  bribing  a  Bolshevist  official. 

Almost  coincident  with  his  arrival  there  appeared  in  Warsaw 
four  other  men,  who  travelled  with  neutral  passports,  and  also 
claimed  to  represent  a  charitable  organization,  though  not  the 
same  as  that  mentioned  by  the  first  man.  They  proposed  to 
be  interested  in  destitute  Poles.  I  have  seen  these  individuals, 
who  were  stylishly  dressed  and  had  cultivated  cosmopolitan 
manners.  On  the  strength  of  their  representation  that  supplies 
were  actually  on  their  way  for  the  relief  of  Polish  sufferers,  the 
Government  granted  them  certain  facilities.  The  first  sus- 
picions attached  to  them  when  it  was  found  that  the  promised 
relief  was  not  forthcoming.  The  situation  was  becoming  acute 
when  the  four  men  appeared  at  the  Polish  Foreign  Office,  accom- 
panied by  the  Russian  who  was  earlier  on  the  scene,  and 
announced  that  they  had  made  an  arrangement  whereby  the 
charitable  organization  represented  by  the  quartette  would 
undertake  the  work  which  the  Russian  originally  planned  to 
do,  and  that  this  would  involve  large  disbursements  from  a 
fund  ostensibly  for  the  benefit  of  Russian  prisoners  of  war. 
Nothing  more  was  said  then  of  the  promised  assistance  to  the  Poles. 

Accordingly,  at  a  large  concentration  camp  for  Russians 
established  at  Povonsky,  on  the  outskirts  of  Warsaw,  active 
work  was  apparently  begun,  and  thus  the  matter  stood  for 
some  time,  during  which  the  four  alleged  neutrals  travelled 
quietly  about  the  country  a  good  deal.  Then  came  a  sudden 
development.  No  fewer  than  436  prisoners  in  the  concen- 
tration camp  simply  disappeared  in  one  night.  An  investi- 
gation was  begun  by  the  Polish  authorities,  and  it  was  soon 
ascertained  that  the  fugitives  had  scattered  themselves  all 
over  Poland,  a  fair  number,  however,  remaining  in  Warsaw 
and  its  vicinity.  Not  a  few,  it  was  found,  had  gone  to  Lublin, 
where  trouble  was  anticipated,  as  was  the  case  also  in  Warsaw. 
These  men,  who  were  either  agents  of  the  Germans,  or  during 
the  period  of  their  internment  had  been  thoroughly  inocu- 
lated with  Bolshevist  doctrines  and  methods  of  propaganda, 
were  being  regularly  supplied  with  considerable  sums  of  money 
by  the  four  alleged  charity  workers.  Also,  it  was  finally  discovered 
that  the  Russian  who  arrived  first  was  the  former  head  of  a  Bolshevist 
seminary  in  Petrograd. 

In  the  face  of  the  Bolshevist  menace  from  the  East 
the  German  opinion  stood  divided.  The  Government 
inclined  to  a  sincere  rapprochement  to  the  Entente, 


from  which  side  food  was  expected  to  come  soon.  In 
an  appeal  to  the  troops  issued  by  Hindenburg  on 
February  I4th  the  aim  of  the  German  army  under  his 
command  was  described  as  "  defence  of  our  territory 
against  our  new  enemy,  Bolshevism,  which  threatens 
civilization." 

On  the  contrary,  the  opponents  to  the  Government 
from  the  extreme  parties  wished  to  fight  the  Entente 
in  alliance  with  the  Bolsheviks.  The  objection  that  in 
this  case  the  Entente  army  will  start  on  an  invasion 
of  Germany  was  met  with  a  self-confident  assertion 
that  the  invasion  of  the  revolutionary  Germany 
will  present  a  new  chance  for  bringing  about  a 
World  Revolution.  "  The  Entente  soldiers,  they 
answered,  will  become  infected  with  revolutionary 
spirit,  and  thus  the  Revolution  will  be  carried 
into  the  West,  and  the  World  Revolution  will  be 
set  loose."  There  existed  also  an  intermediate 
current  of  opinion,  represented,  e.g.,  by  Erzberger,  who 
tried  to  use  Bolshevism  not  as  a  weapon  to  fight  with, 
but  as  a  threat  looming  in  the  eyes  of  the  Entente,  in 
order  to  get  more  concessions  and  better  conditions 
of  peace.  Erzberger  himself  told  a  correspondent  of 
the  Morning  Post  (February  I4th)  that  he  already 
earned  a  certain  success  with  the  Allies  owing 
to  this  argument.  "  During  the  first  Armistice 
negotiations,"  he  said,  "  the  Entente  refused  to  believe 
in  the  reality  of  the  Bolshevism  menace  altogether. 
During  the  second  Armistice  negotiations,  in  December, 
they  admitted  that  it  represented  a  real  danger  to 
Germany.  Finally,  in  the  last  Armistice  negotiations 
they  could  no  longer  deny  that  Bolshevism  had  become 
a  menace  to  the  Entente  itself."  According  to  Erzberger, 


158    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

it  was  even  agreed  "  not  to  allow  Russian  prisoners  of 
war  to  return  to  Russia,  where  they  might  be  impressed 
into  the  Bolshevist  army  (which  was  regularly  the  case) , 
but  to  keep  them  in  German  internment  camps  under 
the  discipline  of  Russian  volunteer  officers,  to  the 
exclusion  of  Soldiers'  Councils,  and  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  Entente."  It  may  be  also  that,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  use  drawn  from  the  argument  of 
Bolshevist  menace  was  the  reason  why  the  secret 
machinery  of  German-Bolshevik  relations  was  kept  in 
existence.  The  double-minded  argument  thus  continued 
to  be  based  on  double-minded  policy.  While  propos- 
ing to  the  Entente  to  "'  prevent  the  world  from  being 
flooded  with  Bolshevism,"  the  Germans  at  the  same  time 
may  have  used  the  Bolshevist  advance  from  the  East, 
particularly  to  Poland,  in  order  to  improve  their  own 
strategic  position  on  the  Eastern  Marches. 

Here,  as  well  as  in  other  questions  touching  Russia, 
the  Allies  have  not  evolved  any  scheme  for  consistent 
policy.  They  did  not  intend — and  practically  were 
not  strong  enough  to  take  the  place  of  the  retiring 
Germans.  Their  military  help  at  that  time  was  quite 
inadequate.  The  small  borderland  States  now  in  pro- 
cess of  making  were  to  all  purposes  left  to  themselves. 
At  some  other  place  I  shall  describe  the  state  of  things 
that  ensued  more  in  detail.  The  point  to  be  emphasized 
here  is,  first,  that  the  Bolshevist  military  invasion  under 
the  conditions  of  a  systematic  Bolshevist  propaganda, 
strongly  supported  with  money,  on  one  hand,  and  of 
no  Allied  policy,  tortuous  German  tactics  and  internal 
weakness  of  local  populations,  on  the  other  hand, 
might  easily  succeed,  if  the  invasion  of  Prussia  were 
the  one  and  the  single  military  action  planned  by  the 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION          159 

Bolsheviks  in  the  spring  of  1919.  But  we  already  saw 
that  as  a  matter  of  fact  this  was  to  be  only  the  one  of 
the  four  actions  to  be  enterprised  during  the  summer 
campaign  of  1919.  The  other  three  were  to  be  conducted 
against  three  other  fronts,  the  Northern  (Murmansk 
and  Archangel),  the  Eastern  (Kolchak),  and  the  Southern 
(Denikin  and  the  Ukraine).  It  is  particularly  Kolchak's 
and  Denikin's  offensive  operations  which  were  to  be 
warded  off,  and  it  is  fair  to  say  that  if  the  Bolshevist 
military  contribution  to  the  World  Revolution  had 
completely  failed  in  1919,  it  was  chiefly  due  to  the 
non-Bolshevist  Russia's  relentless  fight  against  the 
Bolsheviks.  This  is  also  the  answer  to  the  question, 
Where  was  loyal  Russia  at  the  end  of  the  World 
War  ?  and  what  the  war  still  going  on  in  the  east  of 
Europe  meant  for  the  whole  of  the  world  ? 

It  is  owing  to  the  necessity  of  dividing  their  newly- 
built  Red  Army  into  four  bodies  that  the  Bolshevist 
aggression  failed  to  accomplish  Mr.  Trotsky's  schemes, 
and  had  in  the  first  half  of  the  year  no  success  at  all  in 
the  North  and  in  the  East.  However,  it  partly  and 
temporarily  succeeded  in  the  South  because  of  the 
transient  collapse  of  the  Don  Cossacks  and  the  half- 
hearted policy  of  the  Allies  on  the  Black  Sea  shore  and 
in  the  Ukraine.  Busy  with  struggle  for  existence  on 
all  these  fronts,  the  Bolsheviks  had  no  possibility  to 
develop  their  own  offensive  towards  Germany.  That 
is  why  even  the  insufficiently  equipped  national  troops 
of  the  borderlands  proved  capable  to  stop  their  military 
advance.1 

1  Since  these  lines  had  been  written,  Mr.  Winston  Churchill 
confirmed  the  argument  adduced  by  some  very  interesting 
statements  in  his  speech  at  the  House  ot  Commons  on 
November  5th. 


160    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

3.  THE   BOLSHEVIKS  IN  HUNGARY. 

The  Bolsheviks  did  not  succeed  in  breaking  through 
the  girdle  of  the  frontier  States  of  the  West,  such  as 
Esthonia,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Poland.  They  were  more 
successful  in  the  South- West,  owing  not  to  their  arms, 
but  to  their  propaganda.  The  same  local  agent,  the 
national  feeling,  which  made  out  the  chief  obstacle  to 
their  penetration  to  borderlands,  turned  to  be  their 
ally  in  Hungary. 

From  the  very  beginning  of  1918  circumstances  in 
Hungary  were  particularly  favourable  for  an  extremist 
propaganda.  According  to  Mr.  Ashmead-Bartlett's 
illuminating  evidence  in  the  Daily  Telegraph,1  the 
"  National  Council  "  that  overthrew  the  Government 
on  October  3ist,  and  declared  Hungary  a  Republic  on 
November  i6th,  had  been  formed  in  January  1918  of 
the  leaders  of  the  Radical  Wing  of  the  old  Independent 
party,  the  Jewish  Mama,  and  the  Social  Democrats. 
"  The  Government,"  Mr.  Ashmead-Bartlett  states, 
"  since  the  declaration  of  the  Republic  may  be  described 
as  half  a  Cabinet  and  half  a  Soviet."  A  few  lines  from 
a  speech  by  Mr.  Pogany,  delivered  on  March  2,  1919, 
in  Szatmar,  may  illustrate  that  characteristic.  Mr. 
Pogany  was  the  representative  of  the  Soldiers'  Council 
at  the  War  Office,  and  he  spoke  from  the  same  platform 
with  the  Minister  President  Count  Karolyi. 

I  came  here  to  preach  rebellion  ...  to  preach  revolution, 
to  set  fire  .  .  .  against  those  great  landowners,  capitalists, 
army  contractors,  bankers,  and  high  clergy,  who  sweat  the 
labouring  population  of  this  country.  But  I  came  here  also 
to  incite  sedition  against  Czech  bourgeoisie  and  the  Rumanian 


1  His   correspondence   have    been   published    on   March   8th, 
nth,  25th,  26th,  27th,  April  ist,  4th,  7th,   I7th,  22nd. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD   REVOLUTION         161 

proprietory  Bojars  .  .  .  against  those  who  destroy  the  unity 
of  the  Hungarian  people.  We  cannot  allow  that  Hungary  and 
Czecho-Slovakia  should  organize  on  different  lines.  Hungary 
can  only  be  saved  by  the  International  Social  Democratic  idea, 
by  the  united  front  of  the  World  Revolution.  We  must  stick 
together,  because  Rumanian  peasants,  the  Hungarian  prole- 
tariat, Russian,  French,  and  English  workmen  are  all  one. 


Thus  nationalist  idea  was  welded  together  with  the 
Bolshevist  one,  as  they  already  had  been  in  the  Bolshe- 
vist "  Imperialism  "  of  Lenin.  Count  Karolyi,  who 
was  not  a  Socialist,  but  a  Pacifist,  at  the  same  occasion 
came  out  on  the  same  strongly-nationalist  lines.  He 
declared  that  "  unless  the  Conference  of  Paris  safe- 
guarded the  integrity  and  independence  of  the  Hungarian 
people  they  would  never  lay  down  their  arms  until  they 
had  driven  their  enemies  from  their  native  soil." 
Unhappily,  the  Armistice  at  Belgrade,  concluded  by 
Count  Karolyi  with  General  Franchet  d'Esperay  on 
November  8,  1918,  did  not  secure  to  Count  Karolyi 
the  support  upon  which  to  lean.  It  was  followed  by 
territorial  encroachments  from  all  nationalities  allied 
with  the  Entente,  Czechs,  Rumanians,  and  Serbs,  at 
the  expense  of  the  Hungarian  "  integrity."  According 
to  The  Times  correspondent  (March  24th),  "  it  greatly 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Bolshevist  elements 
who  were  working  to  stir  up  an  ill-feeling  against  the 
Entente."  At  the  same  time,  it  brought  together  the 
most  opposite  political  groups  in  one  feeling  of  national 
offence,  and  thus  prepared  a  very  large  national  basis 
for  a  Bolshevik  overthrow.  Such  statesmen  as  Count 
Andrassy  declared  that  "  rather  than  suffer  the  amputa- 
tion of  half  of  their  territories,  the  Magyars  would  make 
common  cause  with  the  Bolsheviks  (see  his  interview  in 
Le  Journal  by  a  correspondent  from  Berne  on  April  3rd) . 

11 


162    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

The  connection  between  the  policy  of  the  Conference 
of  Paris  and  the  Bolshevist  Revolution  in  Budapest 
is  very  eloquently  stated  by  Mr.  Ashmead-Bartlett 
in  a  correspondence  written  three  weeks  before  that 
Revolution  (on  March  6th — see  the  Daily  Telegraph, 
March  nth)  : 

It  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  dangers  of  the 
present  situation  in  Hungary  in  regard  to  its  external  affairs. 
The  delays  of  the  Conference  of  Paris  in  fixing  the  ultimate 
boundaries  of  the  nation,  the  failure  to  listen  to  any  official 
expression  of  Hungarian  public  opinion  up  to  this  time,  and 
the  permitting  of  the  armed  occupation  of  more  than  half  her 
former  territory,  before  the  Conference  has  given  its  decision, 
by  the  Rumanians,  Czecho-Slovaks  and  Jugo-Slavs,  is  having 
a  deplorable  effect  on  the  Hungarian  people,  and  is  endangering 
once  again  the  peace  of  Europe.  It  has  had  the  effect  of  creating 
a  national  feeling  throughout  the  country  amongst  all  classes, 
and  however  much  the  nation  may  seem  divided  in  regard  to 
internal  affairs,  it  stands  absolutely  solid  in  its  determination 
to  insist  on  President  Wilson's  formula  that  every  people  has 
the  right  to  live  under  the  flag  of  its  own  choosing.  From  the 
ultra-Conservatives  to  the  most  extreme  Social  Democrats,  you  only 
hear  the  same  expressions  of  opinion,  namely,  that  there  will 
be  no  peace  in  this  part  of  Europe  if  Hungarian  territory  is 
taken  from  her.  .  .  .  Every  day  the  feeling  is  growing  in  strength. 
1  have  talked  with  elder  statesmen  like  Count  Apponyi,  with 
President  Karolyi,  with  Moderate  Socialists  like  Bohm,  the 
Minister  of  War,  with  the  extreme  wing  of  Social  Democrats 
led  by  Pogany  .  .  .  the  most  powerful  man  in  Hungary  to-day, 
with  the  working  classes,  and  with  leaders  of  all  shades  of  public 
opinion.  All  declare  that  the  people  will  never  lay  down  their 
arms  if  their  richest  districts,  on  which  they  are  dependent  for 
food  and  coal,  are  taken  from  them,  leaving  them  at  the  mercy 
of  their  neighbours. 

This  is  the  soil  on  which  the  Bolshevist  propaganda 
thrived,  and  this  time  attained  its  aim.  The  head  of 
the  Government,  Count  Karolyi,  took  it  under  his 
protection  so  far  as  this  propaganda  was  directed  against 
the  neighbouring  nations.  M.  Vaida  Voevod,  the 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         168 

Rumanian  Minister  for  Transylvania,  in  his  long  inter- 
view published  by  Le  Matin  (March  25th),  has  stated 
that  "  as  soon  as  he  came  into  power,  Count  Karolyi 
founded  a  Bolshevist  propaganda  bureau  at  Budapest, 
whence  were  issued  proclamations  in  Czech,  Serbian, 
and  Rumanian,  which  were  disseminated  in  Croatia, 
Transylvania  and  Slovakia  by  agents  or  from  aero- 
planes. This  bureau  was  in  close  touch  with  the  Russian 
Bolshevists.  When  the  Rumanian  troops  occupied 
Marmaros  Sziget,  in  Northern  Hungary,  they  made 
prisoner  800  armed  Bolshevists  who  had  come  from 
Russia,  via  Eastern  Galicia.  Karolyi  and  Lenin  were 
in  constant  communication  through  the  wireless  station 
at  Budapest."  Dr.  Harold  Williams  also  confirms 
in  the  Daily  Chronicle  (March  26th)  that  "  Lenin 
saw  the  possibilities  of  Budapest  long  ago,  and  just 
after  the  Armistice  he  sent  there  his  friend  Rakovsky, 
who  was  received  by  the  Karolyi  Government  and 
permitted  to  carry  on  propaganda  among  Slovaks, 
Serbs,  and  Transylvanian  Rumanians.  He  also  worked 
among  the  Magyars,  and  when  he  returned  to  Russia 
left  behind  him  a  band  of  trained  agents  well  supplied 
with  funds  and  having  a  nucleus  among  returned 
prisoners  of  war,  who  had  been  subjected  to  intense 
propaganda  in  Russia."  On  February  23,  1919, 
the  Communists  tried  their  first  stroke  in  Gratz  (Styria). 
On  that  occasion  the  Hungarian  Government  proceeded 
to  arrests.  Seventy-six  Communists  were  arrested, 
and  at  the  judicial  examination  they  admitted  that 
they  worked  with  Russian  gold  and  spent  300,000 
kronen  (about  £17,000)  monthly.  The  correspondent 
of  the  Daily  Telegraph,  Mr.  Leonard  Spray,  has  received 
further  interesting  details  on  that  subject  from  a  corre- 


164  BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

spondent  at  Budapest,  before  the  outbreak  (see  March 
26th).  According  to  it,  "  so  long  ago  as  last  January 
the  police  at  Vienna  and  at  Budapest  discovered  that 
delegates  from  the  Russian  Red  Cross,  who  were  supposed 
to  have  been  sent  to  assist  the  repatriation  of  Russian 
prisoners  "—just  as  we  saw  it  in  Poland — "were  nothing 
other  than  Bolshevik  agents,  and  that  they  were  dis- 
pensing large  sums  of  Russian  and  Austrian  money 
in  order  to  gain  adherents  in  Vienna  and  Budapest 
The  leader  of  the  movement  was  found  to  be  Bela  Kun.1 
He  was  arrested,  and  acknowledged  that  he  had  received 
all  the  money  he  required  from  Russia,  and  that  it  was 
brought  by  private  couriers.  ...  A  few  days  ago  the 
Hungarian  police  received  information  which  led  them 
to  suspect  the  real  character  of  the  party  of  100  supposed 
Red  Cross  delegates,  whose  arrival  had  been  announced. 
They  were  stopped  at  the  frontier,  and  were  found  to 
be  in  possession  of  2,000,000  roubles.  On  cross- 
examination,  they  admitted  that  their  true  purpose 
for  coming  was  to  support  the  movement  in  Hungary." 
At  the  same  day,  another  correspondent  of  the  same 
newspaper,  Mr.  Beaumont,  telegraphed  from  Milan 

*  Bela  Kun,  born  in  1886  at  Szilagycseh,  in  Transylvania, 
formerly  a  Hungarian  journalist,  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
the  Workmen's  Association  at  Temesvar,  became  a  lieutenant, 
and  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Russians  at  Przemsl.  Kerensky 
is  said  to  have  appointed  him  chief  of  propaganda  among  the 
prisoners,  but  he  worked  for  the  Bolsheviks,  made  friends  with 
Lenin,  and  when  the  latter  gained  power  he  organized  the 
first  Bolshevik  Mission  formed  from  prisoners  of  war  returning 
to  Hungary  after  Brest-Litovsk.  It  is  said  that  Lenin  fur- 
nished him  with  money  to  found  a  Communist  paper,  the  Voros 
Nysag,  which  he  edited  for  a  time  after  his  return  from  captivity. 
He  was  inclined  to  go  a  little  too  fast  for  Karolyi,  and  was 
arrested  for  organizing  a  Communist  demonstration  in  Buda- 
pest and  assaulting  the  police  (February).  After  the  Revolution 
of  March  2ist  he  became  Foreign  Minister. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         165 

that  the  ground  for  the  Hungarian  Bolsheviks  "  was 
prepared  by  a  large  influx  of  Hungarian  prisoners  of 
war  from  Russia.  It  may  be  safely  estimated,"  he 
asserts,  "  that  more  than  100,000  of  these  prisoners, 
all  tainted  with  Bolshevism,  Communist,  and  Anarchist 
ideas,  and  scientifically  instructed  by  the  Russian  leaders, 
have  entered  Hungary  within  the  last  four  months. 
It  is  no  impossible  boast,  therefore,  of  the  new  revolu- 
tionary Government  in  Budapest  that  it  can  get  up, 
or  has  already  at  hand,  an  army  of  70,000  former 

prisoners  of  war."     It  was  coupled  with  another  boast, 

• 

that  "  a  Bolshevik  army  of  300,000  men  is  waiting  on 
the  borders  of  the  Bukovina  and  in  the  Ukraine  to  come 
to  the  aid  of  Hungary."  The  Deutsches  Volksblatt  of 
Vienna,  which  communicated  that  news,  claimed  also 
to  be  informed  by  one  who  had  just  (before  March  24th) 
arrived  from  the  north  of  Hungary,  that  Hungarian 
troops  are  already  being  concentrated  according  to 
plans  made  in  common  understanding  between  Moscow 
and  Budapest. 

Hungary  was  thus  quite  ripe  for  a  Bolshevist  revolu- 
tion, when  a  new  Note  by  the  Entente  on  the  establish- 
ment on  the  frontier  of  a  neutral  zone,  which  the 
Hungarians  understood  to  be  identical  with  the  future 
political  boundary  of  Hungary,1  gave  signal  for  the 
outbreak.  Karolyi  resigned  on  March  2ist.  A  "  Soviet 
Government  "  took  his  place.  Everything  was  achieved 
in  a  bloodless  way.  Next  day  the  following  dialogue 
by  wireless  ensued  between  Budapest  and  Moscow  : 


1  Colonel  Vix  formally  denied  that  interpretation.  He  stated 
that  the  President  of  the  Republic  was  informed  that  the  aim 
of  the  Entente  is  to  separate  the  "  Hungarian  troops  from  the 
Rumanians  by  means  of  a  sharply-defined  neutral  zone." 


166   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

"  The  Hungarian  Soviet  Republic  requests  Comrade  Lenin 
to  come  to  the  telegraph  apparatus."  Twenty  minutes  later 
Moscow  replied  :  "  Lenin  is  at  the  apparatus.  I  request  Comrade 
Bela  Kun,  Commissary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  to  come  to  the  tele- 
graph apparatus."  Budapest  replied  :  "  Instead  of  Bela  Kun, 
who  is  at  present  attending  a  Council  sitting,  Ernst  For,  a 
member  of  the  Central  Committee  of  the  Hungarian  Communist 
party,  is  at  the  apparatus.  The  Hungarian  proletariat,  which 
yesterday  took  the  entire  State  power  into  its  hands,  has  intro- 
duced the  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  into  the  country,  and 
greets  you  as  the  leader  of  the  international  proletariat.  We  express 
to  you  our  revolutionary  solidarity,  and  tender  our  greetings 
to  the  entire  revolutionary  Russian  proletariat."  Lenin  sub- 
sequently replied ;  "  Your  message  to  the  Congress  of  the 
Communist  party  of  Bolshevist  Russia  was  received  with  tremen- 
dous enthusiasm.  In  order  to  communicate  the  decisions  of 
the  Moscow  Congress,  and  likewise  to  report  on  the  military 
situation,  it  is  necessary  to  maintain  permanent  wireless  com- 
munication between  Budapest  and  Moscow.  With  Communist 
greetings  and  handshake." — LENIN. 

We  have  many  specimens  of  that  interchange  of 
wireless  communications  which  followed  that  advice. 
It  apparently  began  by  a  note  of  doubt  on  the  part  of 
Moscow  whether  what  existed  in  Budapest  was  really 
a  Communist  Republic.  "  Please  inform  me,"  Lenin 
asked  Bela  Kun,  "  what  real  guarantees  you  have 
that  the  new  Hungarian  Government  is  really  Com- 
munistic and  not  merely  Socialistic  ;  THAT  is,  Social- 
traitorous  (socialverratherisch}.  It  is  quite  certain  that 
owing  to  peculiar  circumstances  it  would  be  a  mistake 
for  the  Hungarian  revolution  to  imitate  our  Russian 
tactics  in  its  detail.  I  must  warn  you  against  this 
mistake."  Bela  Kun  sends  a  detailed  reply  to  his 
master.  He  states  that  within  three  days  a  decree 
for  the  nationalization  of  all  land,  as  well  as  a  decree 
for  the  annulment  of  loans,  will  be  issued  in  Hungary. 
He  claims  that  the  power  is  fully  in  the  hands  of  the 
Soviets.  He  says  that  his  influence  upon  the  masses 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         167 

is  very  great,  and  that  the  shaping  of  the  Soviets  depends 
entirely  upon  him.  The  regulations  for  the  elections 
of  the  Soviets  are  on  the  Russian  model.  .  .  .  Soviets 
have  been  formed  already  in  every  village.  Concerning 
the  military  situation,  Bela  Kun  answers  that  no  serious 
operations  affecting  Hungary  have  so  far  been  under- 
taken by  the  Entente  Powers  ;  also  that  the  organization 
of  the  Red  Army  makes  progress  and  that  Russian 
prisoners  have  been  enrolled  in  the  Red  Army.  He 
takes  care  to  add  that  there  is  great  unrest  in 
Austria  and  in  Southern  Germany,  and  that  decisive 
events  are  expected  to  occur  within  a  few  days.  In 
his  speech  before  the  delegates  of  the  old  Communist 
party  Bela  Kun  repeats  conscientiously  Lenin's  lesson. 
"  The  Soviet  constitution  is  being  worked  out  at 
present  on  the  basis  of  Lenin's  instructions.  It  is 
not  necessary,  however,  literally  to  copy  the  Russian 
constitution.  We  must  learn  from  the  mistakes  of 
the  Russian  Revolution.  The  dictatorship  does  not  in 
every  case  signify  terrorism  "  — and  so  on. 

Measures  which  were  not  considered  to  be  "  mistakes," 
but  obviously  were  thought  to  be  the  very  substance 
of  Communist  legislation — and  which  have  been,  accord- 
ingly, immediately  realized  in  Hungary — were  the 
"  socialization  "  of  all  banking  institutions  and  safes,  of 
all  dwelling-houses,  the  sanction  of  "  illegal  "  marriages 
and  illegitimate  children,  etc.  Subsequently,  the 
Hungarian  reformers  asked  for  further  inspiration 
from  Moscow.  An  intercepted  wireless  message  to 
Chicherin  requests  the  despatch  of  all  Russian  Bolshevist 
decrees  and  regulations,  together  with  other  Bolshevist 
literature,  to  Proskurov  (Podolia),  thence  to  be  fetched 
by  an  aerial  messenger. 


168  BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

The  hopes  ran  high  at  that  first  real  achievement  in 
the  line  of  the  World  Revolution.  In  an  interview 
published  by  the  Berliner  Tageblatt  a  few  days  after 
the  Revolution  the  Hungarian  Ambassador  at  Vienna 
said  :  "  We  are  joined  to  the  Russian  Soviet  Republic 
by  a  very  strong  military  and  political  treaty.  .  .  . 
I  do  not  believe  the  Governments  of  the  Entente  will 
venture  into  war  against  a  world's  movement  such  as 
Bolshevism,  for  the  revolution  in  Hungary  is  only  a 
step  on  the  way  to  a  World  Revolution.  .  .  .  We 
are  inspired  by  the  same  ideas  which  guide  the  Russian 
Soviet  Government."  Later  on  (April  24th)  The  Times 
correspondent  published  the  contents  of  the  agreement 
between  Bela  Kun  and  Lenin,  referred  to  by  the 
Hungarian  Ambassador.  It  was  as  follows  : 

1.  An    Alliance    is    agreed    upon    between    the    Soviets    of 
Hungary,  Ukrainia,  and  Russia. 

2.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  other  European  States  going  over 
to  the  Soviet  regime,  they  will  give  each  other  military  and 
material  assistance. 

3.  Movements  of  troops  will  be  made  only  after  a  preliminary 
understanding  among  the  different  Soviet  States. 

4.  They  will  attack  the  Entente,  and  especially  Poland  and 
Rumania. 

On  April  i6th  Pogany,  while  on  a  trip  to  Vienna, 
confirmed  these  hopes  and  expectations.  Interviewed 
by  a  representative  of  Der  Neue  Tag,  he  said  :  "  In 
one  week  we  shall  be  in  direct  relations  with  Russia 
and  the  Ukraine,  and  shall  obtain  the  foodstuffs  as 
well  as  the  raw  materials  necessary  for  our  industries, 
so  that  the  hopes  of  the  bourgeoisie  that  we  shall  be 
defeated  by  hunger  and  want  are  destroyed.  I  admit 
that  Communism  cannot  win  only  a  partial  victory. 
But  the  Soviet  block,  consisting  of  Russia,  the 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         169 

Ukraine,  Germany,  and  Serbia,  would  easily  be  able 
to  deal  with  the  industrial  opposition  of  the  capitalist 
States." 

This  state  of  self-confidence  was  still  enhanced  by 
General  Smuts'  Mission  to  Budapest.  To  use  Mr. 
Ashmead-Bartlett's  judicious  expression,  "  the  Entente, 
by  its  error  in  sending  General  Srrmts  on  his  Mission,  has 
put  a  premium  on  Bolshevism."  "  The  Soviet  Govern- 
ment expected  force,"  he  states  on  April  loth,  "  and, 
to  their  amazement,  they  found  recognition.  The 
only  satisfaction  to  be  got  out  of  this  miserable  business 
is  the  fact  that  the  Soviet  Government  are  now  so 
confident  that  they  have  laid  all  their  cards  on  the 
table." 

And,  indeed,  General  Smuts  has  come  to  propose 
the  raising  of  the  blockade,  and  an  invitation  of  the 
Hungarian  delegates  to  the  Peace  Conference  before 
the  final  frontiers  should  be  decided.  In  exchange, 
he  demanded  the  formal  recognition  of  the  Note  on 
the  neutral  zone. 

On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  April  5tb,  Bela  Kun  was 
ready  to  accept  these  advantageous  proposals.  But 
subsequently  he  conferred  with  Lenin  by  wireless, 
and,  on  Lenin's  advice,  on  the  afternoon  he  rejected 
the  proposals.  On  Saturday  night  General  Smuts 
steamed  out  of  Budapest. 

What  the  Hungarian  Bolsheviks  now  asked  for  was 
complete  freedom  to  exploit  Bolshevism  throughout  the 
world.  "  We  request  the  convocation  of  the  Con- 
ference proposed  by  us,"  they  said,  "  to  consist  of  the 
representatives  of  the  Hungarian  Soviet  Republic, 
Bohemia,  Rumania,  Serbia,  Jugo-Slavia  and  German 
Austria,  to  meet  as  quickly  as  possible  in  Prague  or 


170  BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Vienna,  and  to  proceed  on  parallel  lines  with  the 
negotiations  at  the  Paris  Peace  Conference."  They 
also  wished  "to  be  enabled  to  maintain,  both  in  the 
countries  enumerated  and  in  other  countries,  economic 
representatives."  That  is  how  even  the  moderate 
Socialist  leaders,  interviewed  by  Mr.  Ashmead-Bartlett, 
explained  their  demands  and  their  expectations  (the 
Daily  Telegraph,  April  8th). 

The  Entente  is  now  utterly  powerless  and  dare  not  send 
troops  anywhere,  through  fear  of  the  infection  of  Bolshevism, 
and  therefore  are  willing  to  negotiate  with  the  Bolshevik  leaders. 
...  If  they  came  here,  they  would  join  the  ranks  of  our 
"  International  "  regiments  within  a  week.  ...  In  reality  we 
Bolsheviks  of  the  world  have  won  the  victory.  We  shall  sweep 
over  Europe,  and  every  one  will  have  to  join  us.  ...  Now  all 
cards  are  in  our  hands.  .  .  . 

So  far  as  their  further  plans  were  concerned, 
Bohm,  Pogany  and  other  leaders  explained  them  as 
follows  : 

In  three  weeks  we  shall  have  150,000  perfectly  equipped, 
trained  men.  In  six  weeks  we  expect  to  have  500,000  men 
trained  or  partly  trained.  The  Entente  will  not  be  able  to 
interfere,  as  they  have  no  troops.  We  carry  on  the  real  war- 
fare by  propaganda.  .  .  .  Don't  you  realize  what  a  wonderful 
position  geographically  Hungary  has  as  a  starting-place  of 
Bolshevism  ?  We  are  surrounded  with  discontented  peoples, 
all  ready  to  accept  our  principles.  For  the  moment  we  shall 
not  bother  with  Austria.  They  are  already  Bolsheviks,  but 
they  are  dependent  on  Allies'  food,  and  say  they  must  wait 
before  joining  us.  We  shall  start  with  Czecho-Slovakia.  After 
Czecho-Slovakia  comes  the  turn  of  Rumania,  but  that  country 
may  adopt  Bolshevism  at  any  moment.  Bulgaria  also  is  quite 
ready  to  throw  in  her  lot  with  us.  Jugo-Slavia  will  follow  as 
a  matter  of  course,  and  then  we  shall  arrive  as  a  solid  body  at 
the  frontiers  of  Italy.  You  will  see  that  in  three  months  Italy 
will  come  over  to  us.  Then,  on  April  8th,  there  will  be  a  com- 
bined meeting  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Councils  in  Berlin. 
We  have  absolutely  certain  information  that  Germany  will 
adopt  Bolshevism.  .  .  .  How  long  do  you  think  France  will 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         171 

hold  out  ?  Why,  we  will  eat  her  up  in  a  few  months,  and  then 
will  come  the  turn  of  England.  Do  you  realize  that  all  the 
English  propaganda  is  already  printed  ?  r  None  of  you  seem 
to  understand  how  well  organized  the  forces  of  Bolshevism  are. 
We  have  every  scrap  of  paper  ready  for  Czecho-Slovakia, 
Rumania,  Bulgaria,  Italy,  France,  and  England.  No  country 
will  be  able  to  hold  out  against  us.a 

Before  the  end  of  April,  however,  this  magniloquence 
gave  way  to  blank  despondency.  Russian  troops, 
grain,  and  raw  materials,  so  lavishly  promised,  were  not 
forthcoming.  The  Hungarian  Red  Army  proved  in- 
capable to  cope  with  the  advancing  forces  of  Rumanians, 
Czechs,  and  Slovaks.  Finally,  news  has  come  from 
Vienna  that  the  Entente  has  given  France  a  free  hand 
to  deal  with  Hungary  and  occupy  Budapest.  For 
a  time  the  Soviet  Government  in  Budapest  thought  that 
their  days  were  numbered.  Colonel  Wedgwood  spoke 
in  the  House  of  Commons  about  the  "  assassination 
of  the  revolution  in  Hungary "  (May  5th).  Much 
more  appropriately,  Bela  Kun  uttered  the  supposition 
that  "  the  Entente  has  condemned  us  to  the  fate  of  the 
Paris  Commune."  As  April  passed  while  Europe  had 
not  turned  Communist,  there  was  a  talk  in  the  Cabinet 

1  See  Ransome,  Six  Weeks  in  Russia,  p.  24. 

*  See  also  the  correspondence  from  Helsingfors  to  The  Times 
on  March  I7th.  "  The  Executive  Committee  at  Moscow,  on 
the  initiative  of  Trotsky,  has  ordered  the  Red  General  Staff 
to  prepare  with  all  haste  a  scheme  for  the  formation  of  an  army 
of  150,000  men  to  invade  Germany  at  the  end  of  April  or  the 
middle  of  May,  via  Poland  and  Courland.  The  principal  object 
of  this  army  will  be  to  support  the  Spartacists  in  Germany  and 
to  put  on  a  war  footing  several  hundred  thousand  Russian 
prisoners  for  a  defensive  OK  offensive  movement  on  the  line 
of  the  Elbe  in  the  event  of  the  Entente  Governments  still  refusing 
to  conclude  a  peace  with  the  Bolshevists.  The  general  idea 
of  this  plan  is  attributed  to  a  certain  Major  Busch,  a  former 
German  prisoner  who  is  playing  a  prominent  role  in  Moscow, 
declaring  himself  a  Communist  and  a  Spartacist." 


172   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Council  of  resigning  and  handing  over  power  to  a  purely 
or  predominantly  Socialist  Government. 

Having  received  some  new  wireless  councils  from 
Lenin,  and  having  won  some  military  success  over 
Rumanians,  the  Communist  Government  decided  to 
hold  on  up  to  the  last.  The  purely  Leninite  argument 
preferred  by  Kun  was  :  "  Even  if  we  fall,  we  should 
fall  in  such  a  way  that  we  benefit  and  strengthen  the 
cause  of  the  international  proletariat." 

Under  circumstances  obtaining  it  meant  that  one 
shall  use  the  "  breathing  space  "  left  to  them  by  the 
indecision  and  procrastination  policy  of  the  Allies 
in  order  to  expand  their  propaganda  to  the  neighbouring 
States  of  the  former  Austria-Hungary.  "  I  will  speak 
frankly,"  Bela  Kun  is  reported  in  the  Pester  Lloyd  to 
have  said.  "  My  personal  opinion  (in  advocating  des- 
perate resistance)  is  in  no  way  based  upon  military  con- 
siderations, perhaps  not  even  upon  political  groups,  but 
derived  from  my  past  career  (as  a  chief  of  propaganda) . 
It  is  that,  if  it  be  possible,  we  should  not  defend 
Budapest  here,  but  at  the  Wiener  Neustadt  "  (on  the 
Austrian  frontier,  near  Vienna). 

However,  as  a  contrast  to  Germany,  the  newly-born 
Austro-German  Republic,  led  by  a  temporary  Executive 
composed  of  moderate  Socialists  (Dr.  Seitz,  Renner, 
and  Bauer)  succeeded  to  keep  the  country  quiet  and  to 
preserve  it  from  Bolshevik  and  Spartacist  excesses 
up  to  the  day  of  February  16,  1919,  when  general 
elections  were  held.  They  passed  under  the  double 
flag,  national  and  red,  of  union  with  Germany  and 
Socialism.  The  Social  Democrats  had  the  relative 
majority  of  70  members  ;  the  Clerical  Socialists  62  ; 
the  other  parties,  mostly  German  Nationalists,  27. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION          178 

The  outstanding  fact  which  dominated  all  politics  was 
the  desperate  financial,  economic,  and  food  position. 
The  population,  particularly  the  lower  middle  and  the 
labouring  classes,  were  brought  to  the  very  verge  of 
starvation,  and  their  life  and  death  question  was 
that  of  the  smooth  transportation  of  foodstuffs  by 
Inter-Allied  commission,  which  might  be  interrupted 
by  political  disturbances.  Coupled  with  the  cheerful 
character  of  the  Viennese,  this  motive  led  to  calm, 
patient,  half -apathetic  endurance. 

Of  course,  all  this  did  not  suit  at  all  Lenin  and  his 
Hungarian  followers.  Bohm  and  Pogany  have  visited 
Vienna,  already  on  the  first  days  of  their  revolution, 
obviously,  not  in  order  to  negotiate  with  the  "  traitor 
Socialists  "  of  Dr.  Seitz,  Renner,  and  Bauer's  type. 
It  was  then  they  made  their  boastful  declarations 
to  Mr.  Ashmead-Bartlett  (see  above).  The  results  were 
not  slow  to  follow.  On  March  30th  there  were  already 
held  mass  meetings  in  Vienna.  At  one  such  meeting, 
convoked  by  the  Council  of  Sailors,  and  attended  by 
representatives  of  soldiers  an4  the  Danube  seamen 
and  delegates  of  German  Councils,  it  was  announced 
that  a  dictatorship  was  imminent,  and  the  proletariat 
were  exhorted  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness.  The 
Communist  delegate  Kovacz,  of  Budapest,  declared  that 
Hungary  was  prepared  to  feed  Vienna  when  the  latter 
proclaimed  a  Soviet  Republic.  A  resolution  was  passed 
urging  the  immediate  arming  of  the  people,  to  enable 
them  to  become  masters  of  the  situation,  and  another 
declaring  the  union,  military  and  political,  of  the  Austrian 
Republic  with  the  Hungarian  was  also  adopted.  (See 
the  Daily  Telegraph,  April  2ist,  a  correspondence 
from  Berne,  April  4th.)  There  were  more  serious 


174   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

disturbances  on  April  i7th,  when  the  unemployed, 
the  repatriated  prisoners  and  war  invalids  tried  to 
establish  barricades  and  to  assault  the  Parliament  House. 
However,  the  rioting  was  severely  condemned  by  the 
Social  Democratic  party.  The  Social  Democratic 
"  Volkswehr  "  (People's  Militia)  proved  faithful  to  the 
Government.  The  number  of  actual  demonstrators 
was  found  to  be  only  about  1,500.  Their  leaders  were 
arrested,  and  the  participation  of  Hungarian  and  Russian 
agitators  in  the  demonstrations  has  been  firmly  estab- 
lished. One  notorious  Hungarian  agitator,  named 
Steiner,  was  found  to  have  in  three  trunks,  which  he  had 
just  brought  from  Budapest,  2,000,000  crowns'  worth 
of  gold,  silver  objects,  and  jewellery,  all  stolen  by  the 
Soviet  Government  in  Budapest,  and  of  600,000  crowns 
in  bonds  and  share  certificates,  taken  from  the 
Budapest  Commercial  Bank.  Steiner  intended  to  sell 
the  securities  and  jewels,  and  use  the  proceeds  for 
Communist  propaganda.  A  quantity  of  propagandist 
literature  was  also  seized  by  the  police  in  his  room  in 
the  hotel.  In  spite  of  the  arrests,  the  agitation  has 
not  ceased.  A  man  speaking  in  Russian  was  heard  to 
declare  on  April  igth  that  if  by  April  22nd  the  Govern- 
ment did  not  accede  to  the  demands  of  the  unemployed 
and  the  war  invalids  it  had  to  be  swept  away  by  force 
of  arms,  in  spite  of  the  threat  of  the  Entente  to  cut 
off  food  supplies.  Far  from  their  doing  so,  a  raid  was 
performed  on  the  Hungarian  Legation,  in  the  Bankgasse, 
by  the  anti-Bolsheviks  on  May  2nd.  Close  on 
150,000,000  crowns,  obviously  intended  for  further 
Bolshevist  propaganda,  were  discovered  and  removed 
from  the  Legation. 

The    Bolsheviks    of    Budapest    reaped    success    in 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         175 

Austria-Hungary  only  in  the  measure  of  the  advance 
of  their  troops.  Thus,  e.g.,  Soviet  rule  was  declared 
at  the  beginning  of  June  in  part  of  Slovakia  as  soon 
as  it  was  reconquered  by  the  Red  Army.  Kassa 
(Kaschau)  has  been  evacuated  by  the  Czechs  owing  to  an 
uprising  organized  by  armed  Hungarian  workmen.  On 
June  i6th  a  Communist  Government  was  proclaimed 
in  Slovakia  under  the  presidency  of  Anton  Yanousek. 
It  was  directly  followed  by  a  declaration  of  alliance 
concluded  with  Soviet  Russia.  On  June  22nd  the  Slovak 
Press  Bureau  announced  to  the  world  that  the  socializa- 
tion of  all  industries,  banks,  and  larger  business  concerns 
was  in  progress,  and  that  a  Red  Guard,  to  which  Kas- 
chau has  contributed  15,000  volunteers,  was  being 
organized.  Both  the  contents  of  measures  fulfilled  and 
the  extreme  haste  with  which  they  were  made  public, 
are  typical  for  Lenin  and  Trotsky's  general  scheme. 
They  had  good  reasons  to  be  in  a  hurry.  Only  a  week 
later  (June  22nd)  the  same  Slovak  Bureau  was  forced  to 
announce  that  the  Communist  Government  at  Kaschau 
has  decided  to  resist  the  Czech  advance.  A  few 
days  later  Slovakia  was  reoccupied,  and  the  ephemeral 
Government  of  Anton  Yanousek  in  Kaschau  ceased 
to  exist.  But  for  the  Allies'  mistaken  policy,  the  same 
should  have  been  long  since  the  case  with  Bela  Kun's 
Government  in  Budapest. 

Anyhow,  even  with  that  non-interference  policy  on 
their  side,  the  Bolsheviks  have  not  succeeded  in  sweeping 
Austria-Hungary,  just  as  they  had  not  succeeded  in 
overthrowing  the  Scheidemann-Noske  "  traitorous  " 
Government.  Moscow  and  Budapest  remained  the  only 
samples  of  the  Soviet  rule  to  edify  the  world.  But, 
as  long  as  they  existed,  the  cause  of  Bolshevism  was  not 


176  BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

thought  lost  by  their  initiators.     Lenin's  view  at  that 
time  is  made  known  through  an  interview  with  him,  sent 
by  the  Geneva  correspondent  of  the  Daily  Chronicle  (see 
the  Daily  Chronicle,  April  23rd).     It  is  always  the  same 
alternative  of  Bolshevism  carrying  the  world  with  it 
or  perishing,  and  the  same  firm  belief  in  the  final  upshot. 
"  A   Communist     State    cannot    exist    in   a   world   of 
capitalist   States.     This  is  politically  and  economically 
impossible.     The  Communist  State  must  either  convert 
the  capitalist  States  to  Communism,  or  succumb  itself  to 
capitalism.    An  apparent  compromise  between  the  two  is 
conceivable  for  a  short  time,  but  it  can  never  be  real  and 
lasting.    .  .   .  But  it  is  with  ideas,  not  with  armies,  that 
we  shall  conquer  the  world.    Capitalism  carries  on  a  more 
effective  propaganda  for  us  amongst  the  masses  than 
we  ourselves  could  ever  hope  to  achieve  by  our  own 
efforts."     However,  in  this  very  interview  two  methods 
of  active  effort  are  mentioned  by  Lenin.    One  is — finding 
their   allies   wherever  they   are   to   be   found.      "  We 
shook  hands  with  the  French   Monarchists   (a   French 
officer  de  Lubersac)  :  .  .  .  thus  we  merely  adopted  the 
perfectly  legal  and  approved  method  of  manoeuvring, 
resting,  and  biding  our  time  until  the  rapidly  ripening 
proletarian  revolution  should  break  out  in  all  countries." 
The   other   method,   whose   theoretical  justification   is 
revealed  to  us  in  the  same  interview  by  Mr.  Lenin,  is 
— falsifying  money.     The  Bolsheviks  are  known  to  have 
done  that  very  cleverly  on  the  international  scale,  by 
preparing     falsified    German     marks,    British    pounds 
sterling,    French  francs,  and  American  dollars.     They 
really    succeeded    in    bringing    down    the    currency. 
Here   we  have    a    "  scientific "    explanation    of  that 
method,   as  applied  to  Russia  itself  : 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         177 

Hundreds  of  thousands  of  rouble  notes  are  being  issued  daily 
by  our  Treasury.  This  is  done  not  in  order  to  fill  the  coffers 
of  the  State  with  practically  worthless  paper  r  but  with  the 
deliberate  intention  of  destroying  the  value  of  money  as  a  means 
of  payment.  There  is  no  justification  for  the  existence  of  money 
in  the  Bolshevik  State  where  the  necessities  of  life  shall  be  paid 
for  by  work  alone.  Experience  has  taught  us  that  it  is  impossible 
to  root  out  the  evils  of  capitalism  merely  by  confiscation  and 
expropriation.  For  however  ruthlessly  such  measures  may  be 
applied,  astute  speculators  and  obstinate  survivors  of  the 
capitalist  classes  will  always  manage  to  evade  them  and  continue 
to  corrupt  life  of  the  community.  The  simplest  way  to 
exterminate  the  very  spirit  of  capitalism  is,  therefore,  to 
flood  the  country  with  notes  of  a  high  face-value  without 
financial  guarantees  of  any  sort.  .  .  .  But  this  simple  process 
must,  like  all  the  measures,  be  applied  all  over  the  world 
in  order  to  render  it  effective.  Fortunately,  the  frantic  finan- 
cial debauch  in  which  all  Governments  have  indulged 
during  the  war  has  paved  the  way  everywhere  for  its  appli- 
cation. 

Thus  the  lavish  expense  of  paper  money  for  the 
aim  of  propagating  the  "  ideas "  of  a  rebellion  of 
paupers  against  the  increased  cost  of  living  (ascribed 
this  time  to  the  "  lust  of  gain  of  the  interna- 
tional exploiters  ")  might  at  once  pursue  the  double 
object  of  increasing  propaganda  and  creating  new 
cause  of  disaffection  for  its  better  success.  This 
also  explains  the  enormous  pecuniary  resources 
deliberately  spent  by  the  Soviet  Government  for 
the  expansion  of  their  propaganda  "  all  over  the 
world."  We  now  come  to  this  last  chapter  of  our 
inquiry  on  the  international  aspect  of  Russian 
Bolshevism. 

1  This  is  untrue,  of  course,  as  the  Soviet  regime  could 
not  possibly  exist  without  supplying  their  officials,  their 
army,  and  their  unemployed  working  men  in  the  "  nation- 
alized "  concerns  with  that  "  worthless "  money  on  the 
increasing  scale,  proportionately  with  the  fall  of  its 
value. 

12 


178   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

4.    THE   BOLSHEVIST    PROPAGANDA   IN   NEUTRAL 
COUNTRIES. 

On  March  2nd,  in  great  secret  —  even  from  Mr. 
Ransome  —  a  queer  kind  of  gathering  met  at 
the  Kremlin,  Moscow.  "  Everybody  of  importance 
was  there,"  so  runs  Mr.  Ransome's  description : 
"  Trotsky,  Zinoviev,  Kamenev,  Chicherin,  Bukharin, 
Karakhan,  Litvinov,  Vorovsky,  Steklov,  Rakovsky, 
representing  here  the  Balkan  Socialist  Party, 
Skripnik,  representing  the  Ukraine.  Then  came 
Stang  (Norwegian  Left  Socialists),  Grimlund 
(Swedish  Left),  Sadoul  (France),  Finberg  (British 
Socialist  Party),  Reinstein  (American  Socialist  Labour 
Party),  a  Turk,  a  German- Austrian,  a  Chinese,  and  so 
on."  "  The  meeting  was  in  a  smallish  room,  with  a 
dais  at  one  end,  in  the  old  Courts  of  Justice.  The 
Presidium  was  on  the  raised  dais  at  the  end  of  the  room, 
Lenin  sitting  in  the  middle  behind  a  long,  red-covered 
table,  with  Albrecht,  a  young  German  Spartacist, 
on  the  right,  and  Flatten,  the  Swiss,  on  the  left." 
"  Speeches  were  made  in  all  languages,  though,  where 
possible,  German  was  used,  because  more  of  the  foreigners 
knew  German  than  knew  French."  "  There  was  a 
make-believe  side  to  the  whole  affair,"  Mr.  Ransome 
ironically  remarked,  "  in  which  the  English  Left  Social- 
ists were  represented  by  Finberg  and  the  Americans  by 
Reinstein,  neither  of  whom  had,  or  was  likely  to  have, 
any  means  of  communicating  with  their  constituents." 

Of  course,  Fritz  Flatten  cut  a  really  "  vital  figure  " 
at  the  Conference.  One  must  bear  in  mind  that  Flatten, 
together  with  Grimm,  had  been  the  most  active  in 
plotting  the  German-Bolshevik  conspiracy ;  that  as 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION 

early  as  1915  they  had  started  separating  the  "  revolu- 
tionary "  International  from  the  old  one — the  "  Third  " 
from  the  "  Second "  —  through  Zimmerwald  and 
Kienthal,  and  that  when  the  time  had  come  to  intro- 
duce the  new  plant  into  Russia,  they  easily  got 
permission  from  Germany  to  let  Lenin  pass  through 
Germany  to  Petrograd,  then  in  a  state  of  revolution. 

Everything  progressed  favourably  for  the  "  Third 
International  "  idea  :  the  Bolsheviks  were  out  for  a 
World  Revolution,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  were  preparing 
to  realize  the  "  first  link  in  the  chain  " — a  Communist 
revolution  in  the  Central  Empires — as  early  as  the  spring 
of  1919.  They  were  not  in  the  least  afraid  of  military 
reverses  :  on  the  contrary,  they  courted  the  danger  o  f 
the  Allied  troops  coming — as  they  were  sure  they  woul  d 
— to  help  the  Russian  counter-revolution.  They  were 
busy  preparing  to  meet  them  with  the  only  weapon  they 
possessed — with  "  hundredweight  upon  hundredweight 
of  propaganda  "  in  all  possible  languages,  printed  in 
Petrograd.  But  it  was  a  different  thing  if,  instead  of 
armed  soldiers,  another  kind  of  Socialist  propaganda  had 
opposed  their  own.  That  is  why  they  heard  with 
consternation  that  their  chief  enemy  in  the  world  of 
ideas,  the  "  Second  International  "  of  the  Social  patriots 
and  Social  traitors,  was  resuscitated  in  Berne.  Moreover, 
the  "  Second  International "  seemed  to  start  on  an 
offensive,  while  deciding  to  send  a  delegation  to  study 
the  political  situation  in  Bolshevist  Russia.  Mr.  Ran- 
some  tells  us  that  since  February  2Oth  the  question 
of  how  to  meet  the  "  Commission  of  Inquiry  "  "  was 
the  most  debated  of  all  political  subjects."  Chicherin 
had  immediately  replied  to  Berne,  saying  that,  "  though 
they  did  not  consider  the  Berne  Conference  either 


180   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

socialistic  or  in  any  degree  representative  of  the  working 
class,  they  nevertheless  would  permit  the  Commission 
to  go  to  Russia,  and  would  give  it  every  opportunity 
of  becoming  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  state  of 
affairs,  just  as  they  would  any  bourgeois  Commission 
directly  or  indirectly  connected  with  any  of  the  bourgeois 
Governments,  even  with  those  then  attacking  Russia." 

We  know  that  the  proposal  to  send  a  Commission 
to  Russia  was  made  at  the  Berne  Conference  by  the 
sympathizers  with  the  Bolsheviks.  The  latter  took  it, 
instead,  as  a  most  insidious  trick  on  the  part  of  the 
"  Imperialist  "  Governments.  Litvinov  was  heard  to 
say  that  "  sending  the  Commission  from  Berne  was  the 
most  dangerous  weapon  yet  conceived  by  their 
opponents." 

Many  Communists  severely  criticized  Chicherin's 
reply,  and  it  was  then  that  the  idea  was  born  "  to  counter 
any  ill  effects  that  might  result  from  the  expected  visit  " 
of  the  official  representatives  of  the  Second  International 
by  speedily  founding  in  Moscow  the  "  Third  Inter- 
national." The  idea  might  be  suggested  by  Flatten, 
who  hurried  up  to  Lenin  directly  after  the  Swiss  party 
refused  to  take  part  in  the  Berne  Conference.  Mr. 
Lansbury  actually  saw  Flatten  in  Berne  openly  declaring 
himself  for  Soviet  rule.  "  Flatten  agrees  that  he  and 
his  friends  are  anti-democratic.  .  .  .  The  people  are  too 
ignorant,  too  stupid.  The  clear-headed,  class-conscious 
Minority,  he  thinks,  must  now  use  the  same  methods 
as  those  of  the  governing  classes,  and  must  assume 
control  by  violence  and  force  "  (the  Herald,  February 
I5th).  Three  weeks  after  these  purely  Leninite  sen- 
tences had  been  uttered,  we  find  Flatten  in  Moscow, 
sitting  at  the  table  on  the  left  hand  of  Lenin,  presiding 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION        181 

at    the    founding    of    the    "  Third    International "    in 
Moscow. 

Of  course,  Flatten  was  not  the  only  intermediary 
between  Berne  and  Moscow.  Mr.  Ransome  informs 
us  that  "  many  letters  had  been  received  from  members 
of  that  Conference,  Longuet,  for  example,  wishing  that 
the  Communists  had  been  represented  there."  "  The 
view  taken  in  Moscow,"  he  adds,  "  was  that  the  left 
wing  at  Berne  was  feeling  uncomfortable  at  sitting 
down  with  Scheidemann  and  Co.  ;  let  them  definitely 
break  with  them,  finish  with  the  Second  International 
and  join  the  Third.  It  was  clear  that  this  gathering 
in  the  Kremlin  was  meant  to  be  the  nucleus  of  a  new 
International  opposed  to  that  which  had  split  into 
national  groups,  each  supporting  its  own  Government 
in  the  prosecution  of  war.  That  was  the  leit  motif 
of  the  whole  affair."  "  If  the  Berne  delegates  had  come, 
as  they  were  expected,  they  would  have  been  told  by 
the  Communists  that  they  were  welcome  visitors,  but 
that  they  were  not  regarded  as  representing  the  Inter- 
national." The  great  danger  of  the  "  social-traitorous  " 
propaganda  was  thus  averted,  and  an  official  point 
d'appui  was  acquired  which  buttressed  the  Bolshevist 
propaganda  in  the  name  of  the  "  Third  International  " 
all  over  the  world.  The  work  begun  at  Zimmerwald 
was  thus  achieved  in  the  Kremlin. 

Just  because  it  was  not  a  new  departure,  but  rather 
a  completion  of  the  old,  the  Bolsheviks  did  not  wait 
for  Platten's  announcement  (on  March  5th)  of  the 
foundation  of  the  Third  International  in  the  Kremlin,  in 
order  to  start  their  propaganda  on  a  much  larger  scale 
than  was  necessary  for  preparing  the  immediate  out- 
break of  a  Communist  revolution  in  the  Central  Empire 


182   BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

("  the  first  link  in  the  chain  ").  Already,  as  early  as 
January  1919,  the  Danish  diplomatist,  Mr.  Scavenins, 
in  an  interview  with  the  correspondent  of  the  National 
Tidende,  gives  a  general  outline  of  the  Bolshevist  world 
propaganda.  "  The  Bolshevists,"  he  states,  "  are  masters 
of  the  art  of  propaganda.  This  work  is  directed  by 
Radek  (Mr.  Ransome  says  Reinstein  was  at  the  head 
of  the  department,  which  he  condescendingly,  but 
hardly  sincerely,  qualifies  as  '  quite  futile  '),  who  has 
under  him  representatives  of  most  nationalities.  He 
(Radek)  supplies  the  idea,  and  the  other  think  it  into 
their  own  idiom,  with  their  French,  English,  or  German 
brains.  They  are  very  clever  in  understanding  how 
to  attack  every  country  at  its  most  sensitive  point  ; 
for  example,  England  in  India.  They  have  Russians 
taught  the  Indian  languages  and  send  them  to  India 
(according  to  Mr.  Ransome,  in  February  a  certain 
Mr.  Eliava  was  going  to  Turkestan).  They  have  sent 
others  to  China  and  to  Japan.  They  have  won  adherents 
among  the  Chinese  residents  in  Russia." 

Mr.  Scavenins,  as  a  Danish  resident,  was  just  the  man 
to  know  what  was  going  on  behind  the  screen.  It  was, 
indeed,  the  neighbouring  neutral  countries  which  served 
the  Bolsheviks  as  the  first  stepping-stone  for  their 
propaganda  at  large.  It  was  chiefly  through  Sweden, 
Denmark,  Switzerland,  and  Holland  that  they  com- 
municated with  their  adherents  all  over  the  world. 
There  they  had  their  old  connections  prepared  for  them 
by  Germans  in  pre-revolutionary  time  :  very  often 
they  only  had  to  step  into  the  shoes  of  the  German 
propagandists.  The  best  proof  that  the  old  tradition 
of  co-operation  has  been  inherited  by  Republican 
from  the  Imperial  Germany  is  the  nomination  of  German 


183 

Ministers  to  the  neutral  Governments.  Thus,  for  instance, 
when  Baron  von  Romberg's  Bolshevik  intrigues  had 
become  intolerable  to  the  Federal  Council  in  Berne, 
he  was  replaced  by  the  Socialist  Adolf  Miiller,  who  had 
been  constantly  on  the  move  between  Berlin  and  Berne, 
serving  as  an  important  link  between  the  Swiss  and 
the  German  Majority  Socialists,  and  intimately  connected 
with  people  like  Grimm,  Nobs,  Parvus,  and  Angelica 
Balabanova.  The  work  of  the  Russian  Bolshevist 
Mission  in  Switzerland  is  very  well  characterized  from 
within,  as  it  were,  by  an  official  report  of  the  chief 
of  the  Mission,  Mr.  Berzin,  after  his  expulsion  from 
this  country.1  Says  Mr.  Berzin  :  "  Our  expulsion 
from  Switzerland  proves  that  to  a  certain  extent  we 
succeeded  in  our  work.  Our  most  important  task 
was  intelligence  work.  We  undertook  to  abstain  from 
any  political  propaganda,  and  that  is  how  we  kept  it ; 
we  took  no  part  in  public  meetings,  and  we  did  not 
publish  newspaper  articles  signed  with  our  names ; 
in  short,  we  carried  on  no  open  propaganda.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  did  what  we  had  a  right  to  do  : 
we  sent  information  on  the  Russian  situation  and  on 
the  Bolshevist  policy  to  other  countries.  We  could 
not  do  otherwise,  because  this  was  the  chief  aim  of 
our  mission  in  Switzerland."  "  During  the  war-time 
Switzerland  had  been  an  admirably  well-located  obser- 
vation point,  and  our  aim  was  to  keep  our  Russian 
comrades  well  informed  about  what  was  going  on  in 
Western  Europe,  particularly  in  the  Allied  countries, 
on  which  they  had  only  a  scanty  information  through 

1  The  minute  of  the  sitting  of  the  Central  Committee,  where 
the  report  had  been  read,  appeared  in  the  official  Izvestia, 
November  27,  1919. 


184   BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

the  channel  of  Germany."  That  the  Swiss  Mission 
did  much  more  than  that  is  shown  by  the  following 
avowal  of  Mr.  Berzin  :  "  The  existence  of  the  Soviet 
Mission  in  Berne  and  the  enormous  activity  it  displayed 
in  the  work  of  propaganda,  not  only  in  Switzerland,  but 
also  in  the  neighbouring  and  in  more  remote  countries, 
has  become  a  danger  for  the  bourgeois  classes  in  Western 
Europe."  That  is  how  Mr.  Berzin  explains  his  well- 
deserved  expulsion  from  Switzerland. 

On  the  occasion  of  a  similar  expulsion  of  Mr.  Vorovsky, 
the  Soviet's  diplomatic  representative  in  Sweden, 
the  Swedish  papers  published  on  December  10,  1918, 
the  following  news  (from  the  official  Finnish  source)  : 

On  the  steamer  Polhem,  chartered  to  transport  the  Bol- 
shevist Minister  Vorovsky  to  Petrograd,  a  number  of  important 
documents  were  found,  proving  that  the  Bolsheviks  are  making 
energetic  preparations  to  let  loose  the  World  Revolution.  The 
headquarters  of  the  movement  are  in  Stockholm.  Sweden 
now  has  broken  its  diplomatic  relations  with  (Bolshevist)  Russia. 
According  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  the  motive  for 
that  measure  was  the  Bolshevist  propaganda  in  Sweden.  Mr. 
Vorovsky  was  at  once  deprived  of  the  right  to  send  telegrams 
in  cipher. 

And,  indeed,  Mr.  Vorovsky's  sumptuous  residence 
in  Stockholm  had  become  a  centre  round  which  local 
Bolsheviks  were  gathering,  and  from  which  a  well- 
organized  movement,  liberally  supported  by  Russian 
money,  was  spread  all  over  the  Scandinavian  countries 
and  beyond.  More  than  once  Mr.  Vorovsky  was 
asked  to  leave  Sweden  :  but  owing  to  the  support  of 
local  "  Left  Socialists  "  he  always  contrived  to  receive 
a  respite.  The  Socialdemocraten  stated  that  in 
December,  at  a  conference  of  "  Bolshevist  representatives 
and  Scandinavian  delegates,"  a  plan  had  been  concerted 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         185 

for  systematic  propaganda  by  means  of  starting  clubs 
in  the  larger  centres  and  disorganizing  the  trades 
unions.  '  Workers  were  to  be  instigated  to  make 
demands  which  could  not  be  conceded,  thereby  causing 
strikes  and  leading  up  to  a  general  strike.  By  means 
of  unlimited  Russian  money  put  at  their  disposal, 
it  was  hoped  that  the  agitators  would  in  the  end  cause 
a  revolution,  resulting  in  a  Bolshevist  dictatorship." 
(See  telegram  from  Copenhagen,  February  2nd,  by  The 
Times  correspondent.)  At  a  meeting  of  the  "  action 
committee  "  of  the  "  Left  Socialists  "  with  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  trade  and  political  unions  in  January 
it  was  decided  to  arrange  for  a  congress  of  workmen 
to  vote  a  protest  against  eventual  Swedish  intervention 
in  the  internal  affairs  of  other  countries  ("  hands  off 
Russia " — namely,  Bolshevist  Russia).  At  last,  on 
January  3ist,  Mr.  Vorovsky  was  obliged  to  leave. 
On  that  occasion  his  sympathizers  in  Sweden  gave 
an  impressive  farewell  banquet,  thanking  him  for 
"  the  valuable  support  he  had  given  their  Swedish 
Bolshevik  movement."  The  Daily  Telegraph  corre- 
spondent from  Stockholm  (from  February  ist)  says  ; 
"  Vorovsky  answered  by  a  would-be  pathetic  speech, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  blasphemously  introduced 
the  saying  of  the  ^Saviour  :  '  A  little  while  and  ye  shall 
not  see  me,  and  again,  a  while  and  ye  shall  see  me.'  .  .  . 
The  Bolshevik  waves  were  rolling  forwards  from  East 
to  West,  and  would  soon  attain  their  lofty  object." 

Mr.  Vorovsky  was  so  far  right  that,  with  his  disappear- 
ance, the  Russian  Bolshevist  activity  in  Sweden  has 
not  been  stopped.  If  the  Swedish  comrades  did  "  not 
see  him  again,"  they  went  on  working  with  his  substitute, 
a  certain  Mr.  Frederic  Stroem,  whom  Vorovsky  left 


186   BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

behind  him  as  a  "  Consul."  In  April  1919  Mr.  Stroem 
was  implicated  in  an  unpleasant  affair.  A  considerable 
store  of  Mauser  rifles,  costing  11,000  crowns,  was 
discovered  in  the  house  of  a  "  Left  Socialist."  In  the 
official  report  the  discovery  was  brought  into  connection 
with  Mr.  Stroem.  He  was  one  of  the  two  Bolshevik 
members  in  the  Swedish  First  Chamber  against  19 
Moderate  Socialists,  while  there  were  n  Bolsheviks 
against  86  Moderate  Socialists  in  the  Second  Chamber. 
But  this  small  Minority  somehow  contrived  to  overawe 
the  Moderate  Majority,  and  even  forced  them  into 
making  some  concessions  to  their  purely  revolu- 
tionary programme. 

To  a  still  greater  extent  this  was  the  case  with 
Norwegian  Socialists.  One  of  their  leaders,  Mr.  Egede 
Nissen,  while  in  Russia,  had,  in  a  speech  reported  by 
the  Bolshevist  newspapers,  guaranteed  to  Lenin  that 
Norwegian  comrades  would  go  over  to  Bolshevism 
within  a  month.  This  did  not  actually  take  place, 
but  here,  too,  from  fear  of  losing  popularity,  more 
Moderate  Socialists,  like  M.  Lian,  gave  way.  The 
Norwegian  Socialist  electorate  is  not  Bolshevist, 
but  all  party  offices  are  run  by  Bolsheviks.  The 
Bolshevik  Tranmael  became  the  party  secretary  ;  the 
Bolshevik  Scheflo  became  editor  of  the  party  organ 
Social  Democrat  ;  both  represented  the  party  at  the 
Berne  Conference  and  voted  with  the  Bolshevist 
Minority.  On  the  occasion  of  a  Cabinet  crisis  in  February 
the  party  sent  out  circulars  ordering  the  formation  of 
Soviets  by  all  men  liable  to  army  service  ;  they  were  to 
seize  power  from  the  officers  and  to  enforce  disarma- 
ment. During  the  negotiations  with  the  Cabinet  the 
party  threatened  a  purely  political  general  strike,  and 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         187 

Mr.  Tranmael  suggested  the  "  socialization  by  mass 
action,"  i.e.  by  seizing  factories  and  workshops.  But 
here  he  was  defeated  by  a  small  majority.1 

There  was  no  lack  of  attempt  to  extend  the  Bolshevist 
activity  to  Denmark  ;  but  here  the  Bolsheviks  utterly 
failed.  As  early  as  August  1918  Denmark  made 
representations  to  Sweden  on  the  subject  of  preventing 
the  incursion  of  the  Russian  Bolsheviks.  As  nothing 
had  been  done,  and  Swedish  Bolsheviks  were  in  the 
meantime  carrying  on  propaganda  in  Denmark, 
the  Danish  Government  was  compelled  to  make 
stringent  passport  regulations  (see  The  Times, 
February  i8th). 

In  order  to  show  that  Holland,  too,  made  no  exception 
from  the  general  rule,  let  me  quote  a  telegram  of  The 
Times  correspondent  from  the  Hague,  on  January 
22,  1919  : 

Bolshevist  activities  are  creating  very  considerable  uneasiness 
among  thoughtful  people  in  Holland.  Meetings  to  commemorate 
Liebknecht  and  Rosa  Luxembourg  and  to  honour  their  memory 
are  being  held  throughout  the  country.  Behind  these  meetings 
are  Bolshevist  wirepullers.  A  few  days  ago  at  Oldenzaal  the 
police  arrested  a  German,  in  the  lining  of  whose  cap  was  con- 
cealed the  sum  of  60,000  marks,  destined  for  David  Wynkop, 
who  is  credited  with  controlling  the  Bolshevist  propaganda  in 
Holland.  He  is  now  said  to  be  nursing  the  Bolshevist  move- 
ment among  the  numerous  foreigners  in  Holland,  especially 
escaped  Russian  prisoners  of  war. 

To  prevent  any  further  Bolshevist  agents  from  entering 
Holland,  the  frontier  guard  has  been  reinforced  and  the  frontier 
is  very  strictly  watched.  The  Germans,  too,  have  also  lately 
strengthened  the  watch  on  their  side  of  the  frontier.  The  Dutch 
Government  has  temporarily  interned  some  hundreds  of  miscel- 
laneous foreigners  whom  it  is  impossible  to  expel.  The  Bolshe- 
vist propagandists  here  appear  to  be  provided  with  plenty 
of  money,  which  is  brought  to  Holland  by  couriers  from  Russia. 


1  See  the  Morning  Post,  April  23rd. 


188    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

It  is  said,  apparently  with  truth,  that  several  millions  of  marks 
stolen  from  Russia  have  been  received  in  this  country,  while 
German  and  Russian  newspapers  are  being  extensively  smuggled 
into  and  circulated  throughout  the  country. 


All  these  news,  coming  from  different  European 
centres,  but  coincident  and  practically  identical,  far 
from  being  exaggerated,  may  rather  be  considered 
incomplete.  We  learn  from  them  much  more  about 
the  internal  activity  of  the  Bolshevist  propaganda  in 
neutral  countries  than  about  the  chief  object  of  that 
propaganda,  which  was  to  use  neutral  countries  as 
many  starting-points  for  the  propaganda  abroad.  One 
single  instance  may  explain  what  I  mean.  We  have 
seen  what  extensive  use  was  made  of  Russian  war 
prisoners  under  the  cover  of  charity  institutions.  The 
reader  may  have  inferred  that  at  the  basis  of  uniform 
practice  equally  applied  in  Germany,  Austria-Hungary, 
Poland,  etc.,  lay  a  uniform  system.  But  it  is  only 
by  studying  the  history  of  the  seizure  of  Russian 
Red  Cross  institutions  and  funds  by  the  Bolsheviks 
in  neutral  countries  that  one  may  learn  what  that 
system  was.  It  happened  somehow  that,  at  a  given 
moment,  Bolshevik  agents  took  possession  of  Russian 
Red  Cross  offices,  particularly  in  Stockholm  and  in 
Copenhagen  (also  under  Joffe  in  Berlin).  They  were 
able  quite  legally  to  use  Red  Cross  funds  for  subven- 
tioning  Russian  prisoners.  But  it  meant  practically 
that  they  were  organizing  new  contingents  for  the 
Bolshevik  Red  Army.  There  were  certain  difficulties 
in  sending  them  across  the  frontier  to  Russia,  but 
somehow  or  other,  as  time  went  on,  the  enormous 
number  of  over  two  million  Russian  prisoners,  originally 
kept  in  enemy  countries,  was  dwindling  down  to  less 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         189 

than  one  million,  a  few  hundred  thousand,  and 
finally  to  an  insignificant  figure  of  two  to  three 
hundred  thousand.  If  even  we  take  into  consider- 
ation the  severe  treatment  of  prisoners  in  concen- 
tration camps  and  the  resulting  abnormal  mortality, 
it  can  hardly  account  for  more  than  the  loss  of 
half  a  million.  The  remainder,  as  we  know  from 
the  agreement  between  Foch  and  Hindenburg,  was 
not  permitted  to  return  to  Russia,  on  the  reason 
of  the  supposed  Bolshevik  proclivities  of  a  great 
number  of  them.  The  one  explanation  of  their  dis- 
appearance from  the  enemy  territories  is  that  the  order 
to  stay  was  not  always  obeyed.  As  the  number  of  tres- 
passers seems  too  large  to  be  explained  by  individual 
initiative  or  by  personal  motives,  there  may  have  been 
some  general  scheme  for  sending  them  away,  and  the 
whole  work  could  hardly  be  done  without  the  connivance 
of  the  enemy  Governments.  We  are  fully  entitled  to 
add  the  new  feature  —  the  exodus  of  the  Russian 
prisoners,  partly  previously  trained  for  Bolshevism — 
to  the  general  picture  of  Germano-Bolshevist  plot 
carried  through  neutral  countries. 

5.  BOLSHEVIST  CONNECTIONS  AND  AIMS  IN  THE 
ALLIED  COUNTRIES. 

A  revolution  "  in  the  streets  of  London,  Paris,  and 
Rome  "  was  sure  to  come  in  its  turn,  according  to  the 
Bolshevist  ideology.  But  it  was  to  be  the  result  of 
a  previous  outbreak  in  Central  Europe.  The  chief  and 
immediate  aim  of  the  Bolshevist  propaganda  in  the 
Allied  countries  was,  therefore,  not  so  much  a  direct 
revolutionary  overthrow  as  a  weakening  and  paralysing 


190    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

of  forces  which  might  interfere  with  the  success  of  revo- 
lution in  the  Eastern  and  Central  Europe.  "  Trotsky 
asked  us  to  do  two  things,"  a  British  Bolshevist 
agitator,  Jack  Tanner,  was  heard  saying  on  February  2, 
1919,  at  a  gathering  in  London l  :  "  The  first  was  to 
organize  agitations  to  stop  the  British  Government 
sending  troops  to  Russia  ;  the  second  was  to  bring 
about  a  revolution  in  Great  Britain."  "  If  we  manage 
the  second,"  Jack  Tanner  added,  "  it  will  please 
Trotsky  and  Lenin  much  more  than  the  first."  But 
the  first  was  more  realizable,  and  in  order  to  show 
at  once  how  and  who  in  this  country  took  to 
the  task  to  "  please "  Lenin  and  to  satisfy  the 
demands  of  Trotsky  I  submit  the  following  in- 
vitation to  a  Mass  Meeting  at  the  Memorial  Hall  in 
London  : 

HANDS   OFF  RUSSIA   COMMITTEE. 
7,  FEATHERSTONE  BUILDINGS,  HOLBORN,  W.C.  i. 

Hon.  President : 
N.  LENIN. 

Hon.  Vice-Presidents  : 
KARL  LIEBKNECHT,  LEO  TROTSKY,  CLARA  ZETKIN. 

N.B. — Owing  to  the  bad  postal  and  telegraphic  arrangements 
we  may  not  get  the  formal  consent  of  our  Russian  and 
German  comrades.  We  will  take  it  for  granted. 

Acting  President :  Secretary  : 

W.  F.  Watsom  T.  F.  Knight. 


1  At  400,  Old  Ford  Road,  Bow  (see  Sunday  Times,  February  9, 
1919).  Tanner  is  the  editor  of  the  revolutionary  sheet  Solidarity, 
published  by  the  I.W.W.  (Industrial  Workers  of  the  World). 
Mr.  David  Ramsay,  an  organizer  of  the  S.L.P.  (Socialist  Labour 
Party),  was  on  the  platform. 


OUR  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         191 

A   MASS   MEETING 

To  demand  the  IMMEDIATE  withdrawal  of  the  British  Expe- 
ditionary Forces  from  Russia 

will  be  held  at  the 
MEMORIAL   HALL, 

Farringdon  Street,  London,  E.G.   (near  Ludgate  Circus), 

on 
Saturday,  January  18,   1919. 

Doors  open  at  6.30  p.m.     Chair  will  be  taken  at  7.30  by 
ARTHUR  MACMANUS. 

Music  6.30  to  7.30  by  MURIEL  DAVENPORT,  Pianist ;    EDWARD 
SOERMTJS,  Violinist ;   CEDAR  PAUL,  Vocalist. 

Speakers  : 

G.  A.  K.  LUHANI,  I.W.W.  DAVID  RAMSAY,  N.A.C.,  S.S., 

W.  Paul,  S.L.P.  and  W.C. 

E.  Sylvia  Pankhurst,  W.S.F.  Ellen  Wilkenson.  A.U.C.E. 

W.  F.  Watson,  L.W.C. 

All  Seats  Free.  No  Tickets  required. 

Seats  will  be  reserved  until  7.15  for  Conference  delegates. 


T.  KEELEY  &  Co.,  Printers  (T.U.),  47,  Darnley  Rd.,  Hackney,  E.g. 

(7.319) 

On  the  part  of  the  "  German  comrades,"  another 
aim  was  put  forward  after  the  Armistice  and  made  the 
subject  of  propaganda  in  the  Allied  countries.  Every- 
thing was  to  be  done  in  order  to  influence  public  opinion 
to  mitigate  the  conditions  of  peace.  The  French 
Nationalist  organ,  L' Action  Franfaise,  had  made  on 
that  subject  very  interesting  disclosures,  which  were 
not  refuted.  I  enclose  the  full  text  :  x 

'  L' Action  Franfaise.  The  quoted  text  was  published  by 
Maurice  Pujo  three  times,  on  June  2ist,  June  23rd,  and  June  25th, 
1919,  without  eliciting  any  comment  on  the  part  of  the  Extreme 
Left  Wing  Press.  The  explanations  given  by  M.  Pichon  in  the 
Chamber  were  very  evasive  :  he  spoke  of  "  rumours,  telegrams," 
etc.,  being  insufficient  to  undertake  any  legal  prosecution. 


192   BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

On  November  19,  1918,  the  German  naval  attache  at  Madrid 
informs  his  principal  at  Berlin  that  his  steps  taken  with  Spanish 
mariners  and  working  men,  especially  with  Socialists,  have 
already  brought  about  certain  useful  results.  Several  telegrams 
asking  for  a  "  peace  of  right  "  have  been  already  sent  to  Mr. 
Wilson  and  to  the  Socialists  of  different  belligerent  countries. 
The  naval  attache  declares  himself  able  at  any  time  to  approach 
"  the  French  Socialists,  Longuet  in  particular,"  in  order  to  give 
financial  support  to  their  efforts,  and  he  urgently  asks  whether 
he  shall  continue  that  propaganda  and  approach  (toucher]  French 
Socialists,  to  obtain  an  undertaking  that  conditions  of  peace 
shall  be  made  supportable. 

On  November  2ist  the  German  naval  attache  at  Madrid  pro- 
poses a  scheme  of  action  to  leading  men  at  Berlin,  in  order  to 
provoke  an  outburst  of  Bolshevism  in  France,  or,  "if  it  is  true 
that  one  cannot  count  upon  the  victory  of  Bolshevism  in 
France,"  at  least  in  some  corner  of  that  country.  This  would 
be  sufficient  to  frighten  the  Government  and  to  let  them  take 
into  consideration  the  wishes  expressed  by  Socialists  concerning 
the  conditions  of  peace. 

On  November  2gth  the  Admiralty  accepts  the  proposals  of 
the  naval  attache  to  act  on  Spanish  working  men  through 
agents  and  upon  French  Socialists  through  the  intermediary 
of  Longuet,  in  order  to  obtain  "  supportable  "  conditions  of 
peace.  "  Do  everything  possible  in  accordance  with  your  pro- 
posal in  agreement  with  your  Ambassador." 

On  December  loth  the  naval  attache  declares  that  the  time 
is  too  short  for  any  favourable  results  to  be  obtained  by  propa- 
ganda among  the  Spanish  Socialists  with  the  object  of  their 
subsequent  action  on  their  French  comrades.  Nevertheless,  the 
naval  attache  continues  this  pacifist  propaganda  :  he  will  send 
tracts  and  other  propaganda  leaflets  to  France,  to  England,  and 
to  Italy.  But  his  chief  object  is  to  assist  French  Socialists  with 
money  through  the  intermediary  of  the  Spanish,  who  will  serve 
as  men  of  straw.  Means  to  get  at  it  is  open  to  him,  but  it  is 
necessary  for  him  to  know  what  are  the  sums  he  can  make  use 
of  for  that  purpose. 

Both  theses  thus  indicated  for  the  Bolshevist  and 
the  German  propaganda  in  Allied  countries,  the  non- 
intervention in  revolutionary  Russia,  and  the  lenient 
treatment  of  vanquished  Germany,  were  particularly 
convenient  in  the  sense  that  they  might  appeal  to 
larger  masses  if  defended  by  purely  humane  and 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         193 

democratic  arguments.  Every  counter-propaganda  was 
doomed  in  advance  to  appear  as  "  counter-revolu- 
tionary "  and  "  imperialistic."  That  is  why  Bolshevist 
and  German  agents  had  an  easy  time  of  it  as  long  as 
public  opinion  was  kept  uninformed  on  the  real  subject 
of  contest.  Periodicals  like  the  New  Statesman,  daily 
papers  like  the  Manchester  Guardian,  without  having 
anything  in  common  with  Bolshevism  or  pro-Germanism, 
did  yeoman  service  to  the  Bolshevist  and  the  German 
cause,  while  stubbornly  defending  flagrant  misstate- 
ments  profitable  for  both  causes,  and  availing  themselves 
of  sentimental  and  abstract  arguments,  very  popular, 
but  very  one-sided.  Without  noticing,  perhaps, 
there  were  always  two  measures  for  appreciating  the 
same  sets  of  facts,  coming  from  different  sides.  One 
was  ready,  without  proofs,  to  believe  the  worst  about 
Kolchak  and  Denikin,  the  "  counter-revolutionaries," 
while  the  best  evidence  was  rejected  and  disposed  of, 
without  discussion,  as  a  "  pack  of  lies  "  if  it  was  likely 
to  discredit  the  Bolshevist  rule.  As  a  last  resource, 
when  nothing  could  be  said  against  overwhelming 
evidence  of  Bolshevist  misrule,  there  was  the  pretence 
of  not  knowing  anything  positive  and  wrapping  oneself 
in  silence.  Former  allies  were  treated  as  "  traitors," 
while  the  real  traitors  to  the  allied  cause  and  German 
agents  were  warmly  recommended  as  possible  allies. 
The  very  term  of  "  non-intervention  "  under  such  condi- 
tions received  a  very  queer  and  ambiguous  sense.  To 
help  people  who  never  stopped  fighting  for  the  allied 
cause,  who  thought  their  war  to  be  a  part  of  the  World's 
War,  and  who  fanatically  and,  one  might  say,  nearly 
superstitiously,  stuck  to  the  allies — to  help  them  not 
with  men,  but  even  with  munitions — meant  "  inter- 

13 


194  BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

ference."  To  help — by  the  very  fact  of  abstention 
from  this  interference — the  other  side,  which  was  out 
for  a  World  Revolution,  and  which  openly  declared  war 
on  all  democratic  "  Governments,"  as  opposed  to  their 
"  peoples,"  upon  which  they  ruled  according  to  peoples' 
own  consent  and  election — that  meant  "  non-inter- 
ference." "  Non-interference  "  in  the  choice  of  any 
future  form  of  government  was  wisely  proclaimed  as 
an  axiom  by  most  influential  popular  leaders.  But  as 
facts  stood  it  meant  nothing  else  than  supporting  the 
"  Soviet  "  rule — which  was  no  form  of  government  at 
all.  As  soon  as  tendencies  were  suspected  to  exist 
for  a  form  of  government  classified  as  undemocratic 
all  talk  of  non-interference  ceased  at  once,  and  the 
same  people  asked  their  Governments  to  interfere 
immediately.  The  example  of  Hungary  during  and 
after  Bela  Kun's  ascendancy  shows  how  distorted,  in- 
consistent, senseless,  and  inexpedient  the  governmental 
line  of  action  was  bound  to  be  under  such  contradictory 
influences  of  a  misguided  public  opinion.  How  much 
harm  has  thus  been  done  to  the  Russo-Allied  relations 
will  be  seen  later. 

I  must  emphasize  once  more  that  no  necessary 
connection  exists  between  that  state  of  mind  produced 
in  masses  and  the  Bolshevist  conspiracy  in  a  narrower 
sense.  The  allied  intellectuals,  who  served  as  inter- 
mediaries between  the  few  criminal  initiators  of  a 
conscious  propaganda  and  the  natural  idealism  of 
democratic  masses,  cannot  be  accused  of  being  moved 
by  mean  motives.  But  it  does  not  change  anything 
in  the  fact  that  they  allowed  themselves  to  be  used  for 
the  cause  which  is  as  far  as  possible  from  their  lofty 
inspirations,  if  considered  from  the  merely  realistic  side. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         195 

Whatever  be  the  construction  put  upon  it,  the 
Bolsheviks  might  be  fully  satisfied  with  the  result 
obtained.  Jack  Tanner  was  right  in  stating  that 
"  revolution  "  would  give  Trotsky  much  more  pleasure 
than  "  non-interference."  But  the  "  non-interference  " 
propaganda  created  an  environment  most  suitable  for 
a  subsequent  revolutionary  propaganda.  It  was  a 
first  step  which  led  to  the  second.  Let  us  now  follow 
the  same  trend  of  ideas  and  come  to  what  is  my  proper 
subject  in  this  chapter  :  to  state  the  narrower  circle 
of  direct  relations  between  Bolshevist  Russia  and 
Spartacist  Germany  on  the  one  hand  and  revolutionary 
groups  of  Great  Britain  on  the  other.  I  begin  with 
Great  Britain,  not  only  because,  living  in  this  country, 
I  was  able  to  follow  more  closely  the  developments, 
but  also,  as  I  believe,  because,  owing  to  greater  freedom 
("  unbridled  licence  "  is  Mr.  Winston  Churchill's  expres- 
sion in  the  House  of  Commons)  of  public  opinion  and 
action,  the  whole  process  may  be  much  more  easily 
traced  here  than  in  other  Allied  countries,  under  the 
conditions  created  by  war. 

Mr.  Ransome,  who  tries  in  his  description  of  the 
Bolshevist  doings  to  be  as  euphemistic  as  he  possibly 
can,  assures  us  that  "  none  "  out  of  the  "  hundred- 
weight of  propaganda  in  English,"  printed  at  the 
"  quite  futile  departments  "  of  a  certain  M.  Reinstein 
in  Moscow,  "  by  any  chance  ever  reaches  these  shores." 
I  do  not  know  whether  Mr.  Ransome  thinks  it  good 
or  bad,  but  I  can  assure  him  that  as  a  matter  of  fact 
he  is  entirely  mistaken.  I  personally  possess  copies 
of  English  Bolshevist  pamphlets,  bought  here,  but 
printed  in  Russia  and  bearing  Russian  inscriptions, 
such  as,  e.g.,  The  Typography  of  Ryabushinsky's 


196  BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Comp.,  Strastnoy,  Boulevard,  Putnikovsky  Lane,  3 
Moscow,  1918.  That  is  why  I  fully  believe  that  the 
editor  of  the  Socialist,  the  official  organ  of  the  S.L.P., 
Glasgow,  is  right  in  his  objection  to  Mr.  Ransome's 
statements.  "  We  would  mention,"  he  says,  "  that 
Reinstein's  department  is  not  so  futile  as  it  might 
seem.  Literature  does  reach  these  shores  of  England 
from  Russia,  and  most  of  the  leaflets  and  manifestoes 
printed  in  England  are  delivered,  by  various  means, 
to  the  British  troops  on  the  Russian  front.  Our 
Government  will  find  that  out  when  the  troops  return 
to  this  country."  But  then  the  Socialist  proves  too 
impatient  to  wait  until  its  insolent  prediction  is  fulfilled. 
In  the  middle  of  July  it  prints  a  special  "  Bolshevist 
Supplement,"  which  is  widely  circulated  at  the 
"  Hands  Off  Russia  "  demonstrations.  Here  all  these 
appeals  to  British  soldiers,  sailors,  and  workers,  said  to 
be  written  by  Mr.  Philips  Price  in  Russia,  and  intended 
for  use  on  the  Murmansk  and  the  Archangel  front, 
are  reproduced  for  the  benefit  of  the  London  population. 
One  of  these  appeals  declares,  in  the  name  of  Bolshevist 
Russia  :  "  Ours  is  a  real  Labour  Republic,  and  when 
you  come  against  us  to  overthrow  the  Soviets  and 
establish  the  kind  of  Democracy  that  exists  in  your 
(i.e.  Allied)  countries,  you  are  attempting  to  overthrow 
the  rule  of  the  workers  and  re-establish  the  rule  of 
kings  and  capitalists."  Another  manifesto  tells  British 
soldiers  and  sailors  :  "  Your  duty,  as  working  men, 
is  to  support  Bolshevist  Russia,  not  to  fight  it.  Refuse 
to  be  the  tools  of  capitalists  to  crush  your  own  class, 
the  workers  of  Russia.  Demand  to  be  sent  home, 
and  when  you  get  there,  take  your  reckoning  of  the 
gang  of  plunderers  who  have  devastated  the  world  for 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         197 

their  own  profit.  Sweep  capitalism  from  England,  as 
we  have  done  in  Russia,  and  join  with  the  workers  of 
all  countries  in  a  League  of  Republics  of  Labour." 
Thus,  out  of  the  "  Hands  Off  Russia  "  slogan  a  pure 
and  complete  Zimmerwald  programme,  that  of  the 
"  Third  International,"  is  evolved.  British  revolu- 
tionaries are  being  asked  "  to  spread  these  appeals 
broadcast  "  :  "by  these  means  we  feel  we  can  best 
assist  our  Russian  comrades  and  also  carry  forward 
the  fight  in  this  country  to  obtain  all  power  for  the 
workers.  We  must  now  sacrifice  the  national  interest 
of  our  rulers  in  order  to  achieve  the  international  emancipa- 
tion of  the  masses  of  the  world." 

If  for  purely  humane  and  pacifist  propaganda 
circles  and  organizations  could  be  used  which  previously 
had  been  opposing  war  and  conscription,  other  group- 
ings and  methods  have  now  become  necessary  to  carry 
the  avowedly  revolutionary  propaganda  of  the  Third 
International.  We  saw  five  British  organizations  of 
that  kind  mentioned  in  Mr.  Lenin's  appeal  convoking 
the  Third  International  (p.  120).  But  independently  of 
Mr.  Lenin's  qualification,  we  have  their  own  avowals, 
amply  confirmed  by  the  character  of  their  present 
activity.  They  vie  with  each  other  for  the  first  place 
in  the  new  "  Communist  "  movement.  The  old  British 
Socialist  Party  (founded  1911),  in  a  leader  of  their 
official  organ  the  Call  (August  1919),  makes  some 
fresh  disclosures  on  the  subject  of  Russian  money  sent 
to  help  British  Bolshevism  :  "  We,  of  the  B.S.P., 
conceive  it  to  be  a  high  honour  to  be  called  Bolsheviks, 
because  the  Bolsheviks  are  our  noble  Russian  comrades 
who  have  overthrown  the  hideous  tyranny  of 
Tsardom  "  (exact  knowledge  of  facts  is  not  considered 


198    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

obligatory  at  these  quarters),  "  and  who  are  slowly  but 
surely  laying  the  foundations  of  the  new  civilization. 
.  .  .  And  we  would  welcome  any  assistance  they  could 
give  us  :  either  in  the  way  of  ideas,  literature,  or 
money."  But  the  B.S.P.  is  already  behind  the  times, 
as  it  admits  of  a  certain  usefulness  for  the  revolution- 
aries to  control  Parliament.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
Clyde  strike  movement  the  Call  tries  to  explain  to 
the  adherents  of  the  new  doctrine  the  advantages  of 
taking  the  political  power. 

It  would  have  been  much  better  to  have  captured  the  civil 
government  of  Glasgow,  for  instance,  as  the  control  of  the 
police  would  then  have  been  in  the  workers'  hands,  and  they 
would  not  have  been  ordered  out  to  baton  the  workers  on  strike. 
It  would  have  been  well  for  the  workers  to  have  captured 
Parliament  and  the  Government,  as  the  latter  have  the  control 
of  the  military,  and  in  that  case  the  workers  would  not  have 
had  the  military  called  out  to  complete  the  policemen's  job. 

For  the  "  Socialist  Labour  Party,"  with  headquarters 
in  Glasgow,  this  is  not  at  all  a  true  rendering  of  Mr. 
Lenin's  teaching.  They  declare  in  the  Socialist 
(February  I3th)  that  "  the  S.L.P.  was  the  first  Socialist 
party  in  this  country  to  direct  the  attention  of  the 
working  class  to  the  impossibility  of  achieving  the 
Social  Revolution  through  Parliament."  It  is  true  that 
the  S.L.P.  ran  three  candidates  at  the  last  General  Elec- 
tion (Messrs.  MacManus,  W.  Paul,  and  J.  T.  Murphy). 
"  But  these  candidates,"  the  Socialist  goes  on  explain- 
ing, "  two  of  whom  fought  Labour  Party  nominees 
(Messrs.  Hodge  and  Walsh),  repudiated  Parliamentary 
action.  They  stated  frankly  that  they  had  entered 
the  political  field  for  the  deliberate  purpose  of  revolu- 
tionary agitation,  and  with  the  intention  of  seeking  to 
destroy  the  Parliamentary  institution."  '  The  S  L.P. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         199 

participated  in  the  elections  with  a  destructive  mission  : 
it  made  an  onslaught  upon  the  political  state,  a  part 
of  its  revolutionary  policy."  And,  indeed,  the  leaders 
of  the  party  have  created  the  Clyde  Workers'  Committee, 
and  printed  its  official  organ,  the  Worker,  as  well  as 
the  Clyde  Strike  Bulletin  ;  they  controlled  the  Shop 
Stewards'  movement  of  Scotland  and  England.  Their 
profession  de  foi  is  as  follows  :  "  The  S.L.P.  is  a  revolu- 
tionary political  organization  seeking  to  build  up  a 
Communist  movement  in  this  country  .  .  .  which  will 
not  look  to  Parliament  for  redress  ;  .  .  .  which  sees 
that  the  future  society  can  only  be  built  upon  the 
industrial  field  ;  a  movement  which  realizes  that  its 
political  work  is  to  sweep  away  the  mass  of  debris 
which  was  once  known  as  the  Parliament  institutions." 
In  its  electoral  number  of  the  Socialist  (December  12, 
1918)  the  S.L.P.  is  still  more  explicit  :  it  publishes  a 
long  article  recommending  "  A  Soviet  Republic  for 
Britain,"  and  signed  by  the  name  of  "  Spartacus." 

But  in  its  turn  the  S.L.P.  appears  for  some  other 
people  to  come  a  little  too  late.  Miss  Sylvia  Pankhurst 
claims  the  priority  because  "  at  our  last  annual  confer- 
ence at  Whitsuntide,  1918,  we  adopted  resolutions  in 
support  of  the  Soviet  form  of  government,  and  decided 
against  Parliamentary  action."  "  We "  means  the 
"  Workers'  Socialist  Federation "  (W.S.F.).  But  in 
that  long  title  the  word  "  Socialist  "  begins  to  sound 
rather  objectionable  to  a  Communist  ear.  And  a  new 
"  national  organization "  appears,  which  calls  itself 
simply  '  The  Communist  League,"  and  pretends — 
again  "  the  first  " — to  represent  the  Bolshevist  doctrine 
in  its  purest  form.  "  Why  not  unite  ?  "  Miss  Sylvia 
Pankhurst  asks.  And  she  decides,  at  a  new  annual 


200   BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

conference  on  Whit-Sunday,  1919,  to  change  the  name 
of  the  "  Workers'  Socialist  Union  "  to  that  of  "  Commu- 
nist Party,"  "  in  order  to  emphasize  its  agreement  with 
the  aims  and  tactics  of  the  Bolsheviks."  "  The  newly- 
appointed  Executive  Committee  is  instructed  to  ap- 
proach other  organizations  of  like  tendencies  with  a 
view  to  the  formation  of  a  '  United  Communist  Party.'  ' 
Too  late,  again.  The  "  National  Secretary  of  '  The 
Communist  League  '  '  superciliously  states  that  Miss 
Pankhurst's  organization  "  differs  from  the  Communist 
League  in  that  the  former  favours  palliatives,  and  does 
not  grip  the  need  for  the  conquest  of  political  power 
by  the  workers  by  revolutionary  social  action,  before 
they  can  take  effective  measures  for  coping  with  problems 
of  social  expediency."  And  if  even  the  newborn 
"  Communist  Party  "  has  repudiated  palliatives — well, 
"  why  did  not  our  comrades  find  all  these  wonderful 
things  out  before  ?  "  J 

A  movement  often  becomes  all  the  more  doctrinaire 
and  sectarian  as  the  chances  of  realizing  its  aims  de- 
crease. At  the  beginning  of  1918  the  movement 
was  by  far  more  self-confident  than  it  is  now.  At 
that  time  people  did  not  know  much  about  real 
Bolshevism,  and  greatly  exaggerated  its  chances  of 
success.  It  was  then  that  Mr.  Williams  and  Mr.  Smillie 
openly  advocated  the  "  Soviet  system  "  as  the  best 
form  of  "  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  "  suitable  for 
this  country.  Mr.  Maxim  Litvinov,  the  unrecognized 
Bolshevist  Ambassador  in  London,  recommended  Mr. 

1  See  the  Communist,  organ  of  the  Communist  League,  vol.  i, 
No.  2,  June-July  1919.  It  seems  that,  owing  to  this  criticism, 
the  use  of  the  name  "  Communist  Party  "  was  a  little  postponed 
by  Miss  Sylvia  Pankhurs 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         201 

Robert  Smillie  as  "  the  most  outstanding  figure  in  the 
British  Labour  movement,"  which  was,  as  a  whole, 
to  be  taken  advantage  of  for  the  advent  of  Bolshevism 
in  Great  Britain.1  "  We  should  have  a  responsible  and 
authoritative  body,"  Mr.  Smillie  said,  "  which  could 
occupy  a  position  in  this  country  comparable  to  the 
all-Russian  Soviet  meeting  and  shaping  policy  in 
Petrograd."  Whether  Mr.  Smillie  meant  here  something 
like  the  "  Triple  Alliance  of  railwaymen,  miners,  and 
transport  workers,"  whose  chairman  he  was,  remains 
to  be  elucidated.  But  the  fact  is,  that  attempts  have 
been  made  to  use  the  "  Triple  Alliance  "  as  a  weapon 
to  bring  about  political  strikes,  whose  aim  may  have 
been  to  "  render  Russia  the  best  assistance  we  could," 
and  "  at  once  to  form  a  Soviet  Workers'  Government, 
as  the  time  is  now  arriving  for  the  workers  to  control 
their  own  destiny  "  (Mr.  Smillie's  letter  to  Reunion  of 
Rebels,  November  9,  1918).  In  that  connection  the 
Press  recently  reminded  its  readers  2  that  as  early  as 
June  3,  1917,  Mr.  Smillie  presided  at  the  "  most  bogus, 
the  most  dishonest,  and  most  corrupt  conference  at 
Leeds,  where  he  approved  of  the  proposal  to  form 
Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Councils,  and  that  after  the 
Conference  the  Provisional  Committee,  of  which  Mr. 
Smillie  was  a  member,  proceeded  to  organize  district 
conferences  (the  country  was  divided  into  thirteen 
districts)  for  the  purpose  of  setting  up  Workers'  and 
Soldiers'  Councils.  The  secretary  was  Mr.  Tom  Quelch, 
who  wrote  in  the  Call,  June  28,  1917  :  "  After  thirty 
years  of  persistent  Socialist  propaganda  in  this  country 

1  See  the  interview  with  Smillie  in  the  Herald,  January  19, 
1918. 

2  The  Morning  Post,  August  22nd,  Mr.  R.  Smillie,  III. 


202   BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

we  believe  there  is  sufficient  Socialist  consciousness 
among  the  workers  to  accomplish  the  revolution  if 
means  can  be  found  to  give  it  complete  and  definite 
expression.  The  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Councils  will 
provide  the  means." 

Coming  back  to  the  present  time,  we  may  judge  of 
the  aims  of  extreme  leaders  of  the  Labour  movement, 
like  Mr.  Tom  Williams,  in  threatening  the  general 
strike  by  the  "  Triple  Alliance  "  from  his  article  in  the 
Call  on  February  20,  1919  : 

The  industrial  kings  will  reel  on  their  thrones  ere  this  struggle 
ends.  Mr.  Bonar  Law  will  find  that  long  before  March  3ist, 
when  his  Committee  is  due  to  report,  the  miners  and  their 
colleagues  of  the  Triple  Alliance  have  shaken  the  Government 
to  its  foundations.  .  .  .  One  thing  is  certain.  With  the  con- 
certed action  of  miners,  railwaymen,  and  transport  workers, 
justice  can  be  wrung  from  their  oppressors  and  a  clear  lead 
given  not  only  to  the  workers  of  Great  Britain,  but  to  the  workers 
of  the  World. 

In  a  more  definite  way  the  Call  declared  that  the 
"  Triple  Alliance  is  taking  the  place  of  the  Government," 
and  that  "  the  Triple  Alliance  is  compelling  Parliament 
to  use  its  authority  for  an  industrial  purpose." 
"  That  way,"  it  stated,  "  lies  the  emancipation  of 
Labour.  To-day,  miners,  railwaymen,  transport 
workers  are  leagued  together  :  to-morrow,  their  alli- 
ance will  spread  until  it  is  a  league  of  all  the  working 
class.  Then  we  shall  not  knock  at  the  doors  of 
Parliament.  We  shall  command  it." 

We  know  that  others  wished  not  to  "  command," 
but  to  "  destroy,"  the  Parliament,  and  not  to  "  knock 
at  its  doors,"  but  at  once  to  use  "  direct  action." 
This  was  the  chief  point  in  dispute  between  different 
currents  of  the  Labour  opinion.  The  alternative  was 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         203 

quite  clearly  stated  in  a  controversy  between  Mr. 
Vernon  Hartshorn,  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  new 
tactics,  and  Professor  Hearnshaw,  the  author  of  a 
very  remarkable  book  on  Democracy  at  the  Cross-ways 
(see  the  Observer,  June  8th  and  June  I5th).  Mr. 
Hartshorn's  contention  was,  that  "  industrial  action  " 
(which  is  a  technical  term  for  direct  action)  can  be 
resorted  to  as  soon  as  Labour  leaders  find  that  the 
Government  exceeds  its  "  mandate,"  given  by  the 
sovereign  people  at  the  last  elections  to  the  majority 
of  the  House.  In  particular,  Mr.  Hartshorn  found  that 
no  "  mandate  "  was  given  to  the  Government  "  for  the 
wicked  and  wanton  capitalistic  war  on  Russia  "  and 
"  for  the  attitude  of  hostility  which  the  British 
Government  is  displaying  towards  any  attempt 
to  set  up  a  Socialist  Government  on  the  Continent 
(Bolshevist  Russia  and  Hungary  are  evidently 
meant)."  Guilty  of  "  political  treachery,"  such  a 
house  of  representatives  can  have  no  moral  claim 
to  the  obedience  of  the  people,  and  the  "  direct 
action  "  of  the  Triple  Alliance  against  them  is  fully 
justified. 

Of  course,  Professor  Hearnshaw's  answer  was,  that 
"  the  principle  of  the  specific  mandate  is  one  which  no 
believer  in  representative  democracy  can  accept  without 
demur."  "  Members  of  Parliament  are  representatives, 
and  not  delegates."  "  The  remedy  for  a  Parliament 
which  (in  the  opinion  of  some)  has  ceased  to  represent 
the  electorate  truly,  is  not  the  '  direct  action,'  but 
rather  a  reform  of  the  electoral  system.  .  .  .  Direct 
action  means  the  abandonment  of  the  force  of  argument 
for  the  argument  of  force.  It  means  the  coercion  of 
the  majority  by  an  organized  minority.  It  means  the 


204    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

substitution  of  violence  for  reason.  ...  It  means  the 
dictatorship  of  a  small  and  extreme  oligarchy  of  doc- 
trinaire Socialists  and  Syndicalists  who  have  captured 
the  machinery  of  the  great  industrial  unions  and  are 
using  it  for  political  ends.  It  means,  of  course,  the 
negation  of  Democracy."  "  Mr.  Hartshorn  is  wrong," 
is  Professor  Hearnshaw's  just  conclusion,  "  and  I  am 
convinced  that  if  the  views  which  he  advocates  should 
prevail,  this  country  would  sink  into  an  anarchy  of 
civil  war  and  revolution,  out  of  which  it  would  ulti- 
mately emerge  in  a  state  of  ruin  comparable  only  to 
that  now  exhibited  by  Russia." 

It  is  very  characteristic  of  the  situation,  that  this 
sound  and  consistently  democratic  reasoning  could  be 
used  by  more  moderate  Labour  leaders,  like  Messrs. 
Henderson,  Clynes,  etc.,  only  when  brought  in  harmony 
with  their  basic  idea  of  class  struggle.  Constitutional 
methods  might  be  resorted  to  on  the  admission  that 
the  working  class  in  their  turn  will  become  a  majority. 
This  is  how,  for  instance,  Mr.  Arthur  Henderson  states 
it  in  his  speech  at  a  Labour  conference  on  September 
4th  :  "  When  organized  workers  have  taken  hold  of 
the  machinery  of  government — as  they  may  presently 
be  called  upon  to  do — (cheers) — what,  I  ask,  will  be  our 
position  ?  Are  we  prepared  to  allow  a  minority  in 
opposition  to  Labour's  programme  of  social  and  economic 
betterment  to  defeat  that  policy  by  unconstitutional 
methods  ?  If  I  know  anything  of  organized  Labour, 
it  compels  me  to  say  this  :  a  Labour  Government  would 
fight  to  the  last  ditch  against  any  policy  of  direct  action 
by  any  minority  by  whatever  name  it  might  care  to 
call  itself  (cheers).  Therefore  we  ought  not  to  set  a 
bad  example.  We  ought  not  to  take  the  responsibility 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         205 

of  adopting  a  policy  of  direct  action  against  a  Govern- 
ment whose  policy  we  may  strongly  oppose.  Rather 
ought  we  to  set  our  faces  firmly  against  any  attempt 
to  substitute  such  methods  for  the  orderly  procedure 
of  our  Parliamentary  Constitution."  This  is  all  very 
well,  but  does  it  mean  that,  indeed,  Mr.  Henderson 
would  oppose  any  attempt  at  a  direct  action  "  by  any 
minority,  by  whatever  name  it  might  care  to  call 
itself  "  ?  By  no  means,  because  in  the  same  speech 
we  read,  a  few  lines  earlier,  that  if  the  minority  might 
call  itself  the  Triple  Alliance,  the  case  would  be  different. 
"  I  do  not  admit  that  organized  workers  can  entirely 
forego  the  weapon  of  strike  action."  ...  Of  course, 
it  is  the  "  mistaken  policy  adopted  by  some  in  our 
movement  who  would  use  this  weapon  on  all  occasions 
and  for  all  purposes  "  ;  but  "  until  society  is  much 
better  organized  than  it  is  at  present  .  .  .  organized 
workers  must  retain  this  weapon  of  the  right  to  strike." 
Flagrant  inconsistency  is  here  hidden  behind  shifting 
terms  evasively  used.  "  Right  to  strike  "  is  one  thing  ; 
"  general  strike  "  is  another  ;  "  industrial  action  " 
for  political  purpose,  "  direct  action  "  is  again  something 
quite  different.  The  point  in  dispute  is,  as  Mr. 
Henderson  himself  clearly  states  it,  "  to  introduce 
methods  that  may  be  necessary  in  the  world  of  industry 
into  the  field  of  politics."  And  he  further  on  admits 
that  this  extension  of  methods  "  may  be  necessary  in 
another  country,"  i.e.  where  there  is  no  chance  for 
Labour  to  get  a  majority  in  the  House.  His  only  con- 
tention is  that  this  policy  is  unnecessary  in  England. 
"  We  are  too  ready  to  emulate  the  policy  adopted  in 
other  countries,  without  having  sufficient  regard  as  to 
whether  it  is  necessary  in  a  country  like  ours  to  adopt 


206    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

exactly  the  same  methods  that  may  be  necessary  in 
another  country."  Far  from  being  a  repudiation 
of  revolutionary  tactics,  it  is  its  confirmation, 
with  the  only  (and  temporary  ?)  exception  of 
England. 

Pure  Internationalists  of  the  "  Third  International  " 
here,  as  eve^where,  oppose  to  that  wavering  and 
insincere  attitude  a  firm  resolve  to  fight  out  their  class 
struggle  to  the  bitter  end  by  openly  violent  means, 
the  same  in  all  countries.  Of  course  they  are  few  in 
England  as  yet,  and  their  connections  are  to  be  easily 
traced  to  the  same  international  channels  of  Bolshevism 
and  Communism,  as  already  known  to  us.  But  their 
influence  on  the  working  masses  is  increasing,  and  it 
is  felt  far  beyond  purely  Bolshevist  circles.  It  may  be 
asked,  How  can  we  distinguish  the  specific  Bolshevist 
influence  amongst  larger  currents  of  Labour  movement  ? 
Some  answer  may  be  found  if  we  consider  the  great 
popularity  acquired  by  the  "  Hands  Off  Russia " 
slogan.  It  is  by  no  means  connected  with  the  direct 
interests  of  working  classes,  while,  on  the  contrary, 
it  is  very  closely  connected  with  the  scheme  of  the 
World  Revolution.  However,  it  was  made  one  of  the 
principal  demands  of  Labour,  as  formulated  by  the 
Triple  Alliance,  and  finally  endorsed  by  the  Trades 
Unions  Congress  in  Glasgow.  Even  so  far  as  purely 
industrial  demands  for  shorter  hours  and  higher  wages, 
as  well  as  the  chief  issue  of  the  moment,  "  nationaliza- 
tion "  are  concerned,  one  can  discern  the  "  political  " 
use  of  these  demands  from  merely  industrial.  When 
bolder  demands  are  hurriedly  substituted  for  such  as 
become  immediately  realizable  (e.g.  44-  and  4O-hour 
week  instead  of  48),  there  remains  little  doubt  about 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD   REVOLUTION         207 

the  political  purpose  of  a  strike.  "  Nationalization  " 
is  often  repudiated  by  the  Extremists  as  a  right 
theoretical  solution  of  their  problem  ;  if  at  the  same 
time  it  is  violently  urged  as  a  political  issue  of  the 
moment,  one  can  be  sure  that  the  use  of  it  is  pre- 
eminently tactical.  But,  then,  Bolshevist  influence 
can  be  also  verified  by  studying  just  by  whom  such 
solutions  are  advocated.  The  strikes  for  political 
purposes  were  regularly  unauthorized  by  the  governing 
bodies  of  the  trade  unions  whose  members  are 
involved.  In  some  cases  they  were  emphatically 
repudiated  by  the  trade  unions  executives.  We 
learn,  e.g.,  who  are  the  initiators  of  simultaneous 
strikes  in  Belfast,  Glasgow,  and  London,  at  the  end 
of  January  1919,  from  the  following  "  Call  to  Arms," 
largely  circulated  a  week  before  (see  The  Times, 
January  28th)  : 

The  joint  committee  representing  the  official  and  unofficial 
sections  of  the  industrial  movement,  having  taken  into  con- 
sideration the  reports  of  the  shop  stewards  in  the  various 
industries,  hereby  resolve  to  demand  a  ^o-hour  maximum  working 
day  for  all  workers  as  an  experiment,  with  the  object  of 
absorbing  the  unemployed.  A  general  strike  has  been  declared 
to  take  place  on  Monday,  January  27th,  and  all  workers  are 
expected  to  respond. 

Who  are  the  people  behind  that  "  Call  "  ?  Glasgow 
is  the  storm  corner,  the  notorious  Clyde  Workers' 
Committee  is  the  working  weapon,  and  among  the 
ringleaders  there  are  people  like  William  Gallagher, 
the  President  of  this  Committee,  a  fervent  adherent 
of  the  Soviet  system,  preaching  revolution  "  as  soon 
as  possible,"  many  times  arrested  for  sedition,  and 
sentenced  to  twelve  months'  imprisonment  for  circu- 
lating the  article  in  the  Worker,  under  the  title  :  "  Should 


208    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

the  Workers  Arm  ?  '  There  is  Councillor  Emanuel 
Shinwell,  another  speaker  at  revolutionary  meetings 
and  a  candidate  to  the  "  Soldiers'  and  Workers'  Council," 
a  man  with  both  Russian  and  Irish  connections. 
There  is  David  Kirkwood,  formerly  chief  shop  steward 
and  another  delegate  to  the  Soldiers'  and  Workers' 
Council,  an  organizer  of  strikes  under  the  Clyde 
Workers'  Committee,  preaching  "  bloodshed "  and 
violence  at  the  meetings.  Mr.  McManus,  the  editor  of 
the  Glasgow  Socialist,  one  of  the  most  active  members  of 
the  Committee,  in  touch  with  Syndicalist  agitators 
and  with  the  I.I.W.,  strongly  opposed  to  the  official 
union  leaders.1  All  these  people  had  been  working 
against  war  and  conscription,  and  preaching  "  an 
immediate  armistice  on  all  fronts."  Now  they  preach 
Spartacism  and  Bolshevism.  We  can  trace  their 
doctrine  and  their  practice  to  their  German  and  Bolshe- 
vist origin,  if  we  compare  the  "  Programme  of  the 
Clyde  Workers'  Soviet  Committee,"  dated  "  Glasgow, 
June  2,  1919,"  with  the  "  official  declaration  of  the 
Spartacus  Union,"  "  published  by  the  British  Socialist 
Party,"  as  No.  II  of  the  International  Socialist  Library 
in  London,  on  May  1919,  and  freely  circulated  in 
bookshops  and  at  the  meetings.  Another  pamphlet 
of  the  same  kind,  written  by  Klara  Zetkin,  is  published 
by  the  Socialist  Labour  Party  in  Glasgow.  It  is  de- 
clared in  the  first  pamphlet,  entitled  The  German 
Spartacists,  their  Aims  and  Objects  :  "  Only  the 
world-wide  proletarian  revolution  can  .  .  .  put  an 
end  to  the  mutual  extermination  of  the  peoples,  provide 
work  and  bread  for  all,  and  bring  peace,  freedom,  and 
true  culture  to  tortured  humanity.  .  .  .  The  present 
1  See  The  Times,  February  7,  1919. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD   REVOLUTION         209 

system  of  production  .  .  .  must  be  abolished.  .  .  .  The 
proletarian  mass  must  substitute  its  own  class  organs 
—  The     Workers'     and     Soldiers'     Councils — for     the 
inherited  organs  of  capitalist  class  rule  :    the  Federal 
Council,     Municipal     Councils,     Parliaments.  .  .  .  The 
proletarian  mass  must  fill  all  governmental  positions, 
must  control  all  functions,  must  test  all  requirements 
of   the  State   on  the  touchstone  of  Socialist  aims  and 
the  interests  of  its  own  class.  .  .  .  Only  by  a  stubborn 
fight  with  capital  ...  by  means  of  strikes,   and  by 
creating   their    permanent    representative    organs,  can 
the   workers    secure    control,    and,    finally,  the    actual 
administration  of  production.  ...  It  were  madness  to 
suppose   that   capitalists    will    submit     voluntarily   to 
the  Socialist  verdict  .  .  .  that  they  will  calmly  surrender 
their  property.  .  .  .  This  resistance  must  be  put  down 
with   an  iron  hand.  .  .  .  The  threatening  dangers  of 
counter-revolution  must  be  met  by  the  arming  of  the 
people  and  the  disarming  of  the  ruling  classes."     This 
last  scheme  is  then  developed  into  a  complete  programme 
of     "  immediate     means   for    making   the    Revolution 
secure."      The    programme    of    the    Clyde    Workers' 
Committee    follows    closely    that    of     the    Spartacus 
Union  : 

Clyde  Workers'  Committee.  The  Spartacus  Union. 

1.  The  disarming  of  all  non-  I.  i.  The  disarming  of  the 
proletarian  soldiers.                         entire  police  force,  of  all  officers, 

as   well   as   of  the  non-prole- 
tarian soldiers. 

2.  The  seirure  of  arms  and  2.  The  seizure  of  all  supplies 
ammunition  by  the  Workers'      of  arms  and  ammunition,   as 
and  Soldiers'  Councils.                    well  as  of  all  war  industries 

by  the  Workers'  and  Soldiers' 
Councils. 

14 


210    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 


Clyde  Workers'  Committee. 

3.  The  arming  of  the  entire 
labour  population  as  a  Red 
Army. 


The  Spartacus  Union. 

3.  The  arming  of  the  entire 
adult  male  population  as  the 
Workers'  Militia.  The  forma- 
tion of  a  Red  Guard  of  the 
workers  as  the  active  part  of 
the  Militia,  for  the  effective 
protection  of  the  Revolution 
against  counter-revolutionary 
plots  and  risings. 


4.  Voluntary  discipline  of 
the  soldiers  in  place  of  the 
present  brutal  and  degrading 
slavery.  All  superiors  to  be 
nominated  by  the  rank  and 
file.  Abolition  of  courts-mar- 
tial. 


4.  Abolition  of  the  com- 
manding power  of  officers  and 
non-commissioned  officers.  The 
substitution  of  the  voluntary 
discipline  of  the  soldiers  for 
the  old  brutal  barrack  dis- 
cipline. Election  of  all  supe- 
riors by  the  rank  and  file,  with 
the  right  to  recall  these 
superiors  at  any  time.  Aboli- 
tion of  courts-martial. 


5.  Nomination  of  authorized 
representatives  of  the  Soldiers' 
and  Workers'  Councils  for  all 
political  organs. 


6.  Substitution  of  authorized 
representatives  ( Vertrauens- 
manner)  of  the  Workers'  and 
Soldiers'  Councils  for  all  poli- 
tical organs  and  authorities 
of  the  old  regime. 


6.  Creation  of  a  Revolution- 
ary Tribunal  to  try  the  men 
chiefly  responsible  for  the  harsh 
treatment  accorded  our  com- 
rades now  in  prison,  and  of 
political  prisoners. 


7.  Creation  of  a  Revolu- 
tionary Tribunal  to  try  the 
men  chiefly  responsible  for 
the  war  and  its  prolongation, 
namely,  the  two  Hohenzollerns, 
Ludendorff,  Hindenburg,  Tir- 
pitz,  and  their  fellow-criminals, 
as  well  as  all  conspirators  of 
the  counter-revolution. 


7.  Immediate  seizure  of  all 
means  of  subsistence  to  secure 
success  to  the  Revolution. 


8.  Immediate  seizure  of  all 
means  of  subsistence  to  secure 
provisions  for  the  people. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         211 


Clyde  Workers'  Committee. 

8.  Removal  of  Parliament 
and  Municipal  Councils,  to  be 
taken  over  by  the  Revolution- 
ary Council. 


9.  Abolition  of  all  class  dis- 
tinctions, titles  and  orders ; 
social  equality  of  the  sexes. 


The  Spartacus  Union. 

II. — i.  Removal  of  all  Par- 
liaments and  Municipal  Coun- 
cils, their  functions  to  be  taken 
by  the  Workers'  and  Soldiers' 
Councils  and  by  the  com- 
mittees and  organs  of  the 
latter  bodies. 

2.  3.  4.  ... 

5.  Abolition  of  all  class  dis- 
tinctions, titles  and  orders ; 
complete  legal  and  social  equal- 
ity of  the  sexes. 


10.  Reduction  of  working 
hours  to  avoid  unemployment 
and  to  conform  to  the  limita- 
tion of  the  working  day  to  six 
hours  and  a  minimum  wage 
of  seven  pounds  per  working 
week. 


6.  Radical  social  legislation, 
reduction  of  working  hours  to 
avoid    unemployment   and    to 
conform   to   the    physical   ex- 
haustion of  the  working  class 
occasioned     by     the     World's 
War  ;  limitation  of  the  working 
day  to  six  hours. 

7.  ... 


11.  Confiscation  of  all  Crown 
estates    and    revenues,    which 
will  become  common  property. 

12.  Annulment  of  State  debts 
and  other  debts. 


13.  Expropriation  of  all  land 
and  properties,  funds,  and  other 
securities  now  in  possession 
of  the  ruling  and  non-pro- 
letarian classes. 


III. — i.  Confiscation  of  all 
Crown  estates  and  revenues 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people. 

2.  Annulment  of  the  State 
debts  and  other  public  debts, 
as  well  as  all  war  loans. 

3.  Expropriation  of  the  land 
held  by  all  large  and  medium 
agricultural  concerns.  .  .  . 

5.  ...  Confiscation  of  all  pro- 
perty exceeding  a  certain  limit. 


14.  Expropriation  of  all 
banks,  mines,  industrial  and 
commercial  undertakings  by 
the  Revolutionary  Committee. 


4.  Nationalization  by  the 
Republic  of  Councils  of  all 
banks,  coal  mines,  as  well  as 
all  large  industrial  and  com- 
mercial undertakings. 


212    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Clyde  Workers'  Committee.  The  Spar  locus  Union. 

15.  The     Republican     Com-  6.  The  Republic  of  Councils 

mittee  to  take  over  all  means  to  take  over  all  public  means 

of  communication,  traffic,  and  of    transport    and     communi- 

means  of  transport.  cation. 

LONG    LIVE    THE    REVOI.U-  IV.  .  .  .  V.  .  .  . — Our    motto 

TION  AND  THE  RED  ARMY  IN       towards  the  enemy  is  :   "  Hand 
BRITAIN.  on  Throat  and  knee  on  Breast." 

It  is  not  the  custom  of  the  British  to  express  them- 
selves so  drastically,  as  "  hand  on  throat  and  knee  on 
breast."  But  "  drastic  "  action  has  also  here  become 
nearly  a  synonym  for  "  direct  action."  "  We  are  no 
partisans  of  violence,"  Mr.  Philip  Snowden  said  in  his 
presidential  address  to  the  Twenty-seventh  Annual  Con- 
ference of  the  Independent  Labour  Party,  held  at  Easter 
1919.  "  But  ...  if  the  Revolution  has  to  be  achieved 
in  Great  Britain  by  violence  it  will  come  in  that  way 
because  of  the  resistance  of  the  Old  Order  to  the  New 
Birth.  If  those  who  now  control  Governments  .  .  . 
will  resist,  .  .  .  they  will  have  to  be  dispossessed. 
.  .  .  We,  who  boast  that  we  have  in  us  the  blood  of 
heroes  and  of  martyrs,  will  not  shrink  from  our  grave 
task.  We  will  not  betray  our  comrades  in  other  lands 
who  are  dying  for  International  Socialism.  .  .  .  Some 
will  fall,  but  the  Cause  will  go  forward."  The  difference 
is  not  great  between  this  slightly  covered  paraphrase 
of  the  Spartacist  thesis  and  the  direct  call  to  "  British 
Workers  "  which  ends  with  the  appeal  :  "  Get  ready 
for  the  Revolution."  This  last  document  was  found 
with  the  similar  "  literature  "  at  an  agitator's  house  : 
a  bogus  printer's  name  was  on  it  ;  it  reminded  the 
"  fellow  workers  "  that  their  "  comrades  in  Russia  and 
Hungary  have  taken  the  only  action  possible.  .  .  . 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         213 

They  have  revolted  and  overthrown  the  master  class  ; 
they  have  abolished  private  ownership,  and  brought 
about  a  Social  Revolution ;  they  are  .  .  .  making 
good  progress  towards  getting  the  things  that  we  all 
desire."  The  document  went  on :  "  What  are  we 
going  to  do  ?  "  "  Will  the  engineers  of  this  country 
continue  to  make  munitions  to  be  used  against  the 
workers  of  Russia  and  Hungary  ?  Will  the  workers 
continue  to  load  ships  with  those  munitions  ?  Will 
the  sailors  still  work  the  ships  carrying  food,  clothes, 
and  munitions  out  of  this  country  for  the  anti-Bolshe- 
viks who  are  fighting  our  comrades  in  Russia  ?  "  The 
success  of  the  same  kind  of  propaganda  in  other 
countries  was  then  pointed  out.  "  Italian  sailors  have 
refused  to  carry  munitions  to  be  used  against  the 
Russian  workers.  Norwegian  seamen  are  boycotting 
all  goods  of  the  anti-Bolsheviks.  Fellow  workers, 
Italy  and  France  are  in  revolt.  The  workers  of  these 
two  countries  are  asking  us  British  workers  to  join 
with  them  in  a  General  Strike."  "  Put  no  trust  in 
Parliament  ;  .  .  .  prepare  to  take  action." 

Under  the  conditions  of  the  post-war  industrial 
unrest,  the  propaganda  of  unconstitutional  action 
has  met  with  more  success  than  is,  perhaps,  generally 
realized.  Of  course,  responsible  statesmen  and  Labour 
leaders  have  tried  to  stem  the  flood.  The  Parliamentary 
Committee  of  the  Trades  Union  Congress  as  early  as 
mid-February  1919,  in  a  Manifesto  strongly  reproved 
"  attempts  on  the  part  of  minorities  to  set  aside  agree- 
ments arrived  at  by  the  well-established  and  constitu- 
tional procedure,"  and  to  ask,  e.g.  for  44-  and  4O-hour 
working  week.  "  Unauthorized  strikes,"  the  Manifesto 
declared,  "  cannot  and  must  not  be  tolerated."  At  a 


214    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

later  date  (in  May)  the  Parliamentary  Committee 
refused  to  call  a  special  congress  at  the  request  of  the 
powerful  Triple  Alliance  to  discuss  direct  action.  The 
President  of  the  Committee,  Mr.  Stuart  Bunning,  in 
his  presidential  address  at  the  opening  of  the  Annual 
Trades  Union  Congress  at  Glasgow,  on  September  8th, 
defended  the  line  taken  by  the  Committee,  and  strongly 
objected  to  the  idea  of  a  national  strike  on  political 
issues.  In  case  of  its  success,  he  said,  "  If  the 
Government  fought  it  meant  revolution.  The  project 
therefore  resolved  itself  into  a  desperate  gamble,  with 
the  lives  of  men,  women,  and  children  for  the 
stakes." 

Far  from  bringing  the  rank  and  file  to  reason,  such 
arguments  only  served  to  discredit  and  to  isolate  leaders, 
who  most  decidedly  opposed  the  current.  Such  as 
wished  to  preserve  their  influence  and  personal 
authority  have  learnt  the  lesson,  and  tried  to  adapt 
their  views  to  the  new  terminology.  The  cleverest 
and  most  successful  have  made  a  selection  of  catchwords. 
They  gave  up  defending  such  as  met  with  stubborn 
prejudice  on  the  part  of  the  working  classes,  while 
they  were  of  no  consequence  to  actual  Labour  issues 
("  the  intervention  "  in  Russia,  the  "  blockade  "  of 
Bolshevism)  ;  they  took  up  the  defence  of  the  chief 
practical  issue,  which  marked  the  line  of  cleavage  in 
the  attitude  toward  Labour  demands  ("  nationaliza- 
tion "),  and  they  used  as  a  permanent  threat  against 
the  Government  the  chief  tactical  issue  which  they 
were  unable  to  believe  and  to  join  in :  "  Direct 
action."  As  a  result  of  these  half  concessions  and 
half-hearted  defence  on  the  part  of  the  most 
influential  and  responsible  leaders,  the  whole  move- 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         215 

ment    gradually  drifted   into    the    channel  desired  by 
the  Extremists. 

The  miners  took  the  lead.  A  direct  influence 
through  propaganda  by  the  Clyde  Bolshevists  can  be 
traced  in  the  influential  South  Wales  Branch  (about 
200,000  members)  of  that  powerful  Miners'  Federation 
of  Great  Britain  (about  850,000).  The  Federation  of 
eighteen  to  twenty  district  associations  is  strongly 
centralized,  and  the  influence  of  the  Executive 
is  particularly  strong.  We  know  the  views  of 
Mr.  Smillie,  and  we  can  easily  guess  in  what 
direction  this  influence  has  been  used.  As  a 
result  the  industrial  strikes  of  the  end  of  January, 
with  their  strongly  pronounced  political  background, 
have  evolved  into  consistent  and  systematic  tactics 
of  squeezing  out  from  the  Government  industrial 
concessions  without  withdrawing  political  aims.  The 
other  constituent  parts  of  the  Triple  Alliance  followed 
the  miners  at  a  distance.  At  the  annual  council  meeting 
of  the  National  Transport  Workers'  Federation  at 
Swansea  (Jime  6th)  Mr.  Havelock  Wilson,  Will  Thorne, 
and  Mr.  Ben  Tillet  tried  to  prove  that  "  the  leaders 
of  that  movement  steered  straight  for  the  rocks  and 
were  doing  it  in  a  very  dishonest  manner."  Mr. 
Wilson  testified  that  "  the  rank  and  file  of  Labour  " 
was  not  concerned  about  watchwords  like  "  raising 
the  blockade,"  or  the  release  of  conscientious  objectors, 
or  even  conscription.  Concerning  Russia,  he  said : 
"  Mr.  Williams  has  declared  that  Lenin  and  Trotsky 
are  decent  fellows.  I  declare  that  they  are  two  damned 
rogues,  and  I  have  more  evidence  of  this  rascality  than 
Mr.  Williams  may  have  as  to  their  being  white  angels." 
But  the  motion  of  Mr.  Wilson  was  defeated  by  213,000 


216    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

against  67,000,  although  Mr.  Ben  Tillet's  motion, 
directing  the  Executive  "  to  refrain  from  committing 
the  Unions  affiliated  to  the  Federation  to  strike  action 
without  a  ballot  vote  being  taken  of  the  Unions  con- 
cerned," was  carried. 

The  third  constitutive  part  in  the  Triple  Alliance, 
the  railwaymen,  were  less  moderate  and  kept  the 
balance  between  the  two  former.  At  the  conference 
of  their  National  Union  at  Plymouth  (June  igth)  they 
were  much  more  outspoken  on  what  they  called  "  the 
invasion  of  Russia  with  the  avowed  intention  to  crush 
the  present  Government  of  that  country."  That 
"  system  of  government  "  was  classified  by  the  orators 
(Walker,  Brown)  as  "a  real  working-class  system — 
not  governed  by  representatives,  but  by  delegates  who 
could  be  recalled."  '  They  were  never  going  to  get 
economic  emancipation  for  the  working  class,"  they 
confidently  asserted,  "  except  on  the  lines  of  inter- 
national working-class  solidarity.  They  would,  no 
doubt,  be  called  Bolsheviks,  but  when  that  term  was 
applied  to  them  they  were  being  honoured,  not 
dishonoured.  Bolshevism  was  Socialism  with  its 
working-class  clothes  on."  The  resolution  asking  for 
immediate  withdrawal  of  all  British  troops  and  the 
terminating  of  interference  with  the  internal  affairs  of 
Russia  was  carried  without  opposition,  two  delegates 
only  refraining  from  voting. 

On  June  25th-27th,  at  Southport,  the  Conference 
of  the  Labour  Party,  with  nearly  1,000  delegates 
present  from  trade  unions,  trade  councils,  local  Labour 
parties,  and  Socialist  societies,  claiming  a  total  member- 
ship of  about  3,000,000,  once  more  discussed  the 
question  of  initiating  a  general  strike  for  political 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         217 

objects.     These     objects     were     formulated     in     four 
catchwords,  of  withdrawing  British  troops  from  Russia, 
raising   the   blockade,    repealing   the   Military   Service 
Act,  and  releasing  conscientious  objectors.     The  extreme 
point  of  direct  action  was  again  urged  by  Mr.  Smillie 
and  Mr.  Williams  against  the  defenders  of  the  constitu- 
tional action,  who  found  that  "it  is  both  unwise  and 
undemocratic,  because  we  fail  to  get  a  majority  at  the 
polls  to  turn  round  and  demand  that  we  should  substi- 
tute industrial  action  ;   this  would  be  an  innovation  in 
this  country  which  few  responsible  leaders  welcome." 
"  I  don't  want  us,"  said  Mr.  Ben  Tillett,  "  to  be  led  by 
the  nose  by  professional  politicians  and  their  satellites  ; 
the  Trade  Union  movement  will  not  allow  you  to  boss 
them."     However,    by    a    majority    of    two    to    one 
(1,893,000   against    935,000)    the    Conference  passed   a 
resolution  obviously  intended   to    "  boss  "    the   Trade 
Union  movement.     It  demanded  the  immediate  cessa- 
tion of  Allied  operations  in  Russia,  the  removal  of  the 
censorship,  and  instructed  the  National  Executive  of 
the  party   "  to  consult  the   Parliamentary  Committee 
of  the  Trades  Union  Congress  with  a  view  to  effective 
action  being  taken  to  enforce  these  demands  by  the  unre- 
served use  of  their  political  and  industrial  power."     The 
spirit  in  which  this  resolution  was  conceived  was  still 
more  emphasized  by  the  formal  approval  given  by  the 
Conference   to   the   decisions   of   the   delegates   of   the 
Labour    and    Socialist    movements    in    Great    Britain, 
France,  and  Italy,  meeting  at  Southport.     Demonstra- 
tions were  to  be  organized  on  July  20th  and  2ist  in  all 
Allied  countries  in  order  to  protest  "  against  the  help 
given  to  the  reactionary  elements  in  their  attempts  to 
triumph    over    the    revolutions     and     over    the    new 


218    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

democracies."  At  these  demonstrations  the  following 
resolution  was  to  be  submitted  :  "  That  this  demonstra- 
tion sends  fraternal  greetings  to  the  working-class 
movements  of  France  and  Italy,  which  are  joining 
to-day  in  manifestations  of  international  solidarity 
and  goodwill.  ...  It  welcomes  the  revolutions  which 
have  destroyed  the  old  order  in  Russia,  Germany, 
Austria-Hungary,  and  elsewhere,  and  declares  that  the 
associations  of  the  Governments  now  engaged  for 
hostilities  and  in  equipping  with  arms  and  munitions 
the  leaders  of  the  counter-revolutions  in  these  countries 
will,  if  successful,  wrest  from  the  working  classes  the 
social  and  political  gains  won  by  these  revolutions, 
and  are  inspired  by  the  interests  of  capitalism  and 
monarchy.  It  further  declares  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  working  classes  in  every  country  to  demand  that 
military  operations  against  the  Socialist  Republics  of 
Europe  should  be  stopped  and  the  economic  and  food 
blockade  against  them  be  withdrawn  immediately, 
and  that  they  should  be  left  free  from  interference  to 
settle  for  themselves  the  forms  of  the  government 
which  they  wish  to  adopt  and  which  should  then  be 
recognized  by  other  Governments.  To  this  end  it  is 
the  further  duty  of  the  working-class  movement  to 
demand  action  in  the  various  Parliaments  and  to  bring 
whatever  pressure  it  can  command  in  view  of  its  national 
circumstances  upon  the  governing  authorities  of  the 
various  countries."  This  was  the  "  slippery  slope " 
— to  use  the  expression  of  Mr.  W.  Brace,  M.P.,  at 
Southport,  upon  which  the  "  revolting  minority " 
was  drawing  the  "  successful  democratic  body "  of 
Trade  Unions.  It  was  now  left  to  the  Annual  Trades 
Union  Congress  to  decide  whether  the  Labour  move- 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         219 

ment  as  a  whole  would  endorse  the  scheme,  initially 
outlined  by  such  organizations  as  "  Hands  Off 
Russia "  Committees  and  Workers'  Committees  of 
different  localities. 

The  Trades  Union  Congress  met  at  Glasgow  on  the 
second  week  of  September.  The  President,  Mr.  Stuart 
Bunning,  in  his  presidential  address,  at  once  pointed 
out  what  was  the  issue  between  the  Extremists  and 
the  responsible  leaders  of  the  Trade  Union  movement. 
"  This  Congress,"  he  said,  "  has  never  yet  accepted 
the  policy  of  a  national  strike  on  industrial  matters 
which  are  the  subject  of  its  primary  function.  I  do 
not  think  it  has  ever  seriously  discussed  a  national 
strike  on  a  political  issue,  still  less  on  several  political 
issues,  on  some  of  which  there  were  sharp  divisions 
among  our  own  people."  And,  indeed,  the  forces  of 
resistance  to  extremism  by  more  moderate  elements 
proved  rather  strong.  The  Parliamentary  Committee, 
which  at  the  beginning  received  a  covered  vote  of 
blame  for  not  calling  a  special  Congress  to  discuss  the 
four  planks  of  the  Extremist  platform  (by  2,586,000 
to  1,876,000),  was  finally  re-elected  by  a  very  strong 
vote  of  3,882,000  to  2,050,000.  Two  candidates  of  the 
most  radical  group  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  the  miners, 
polled  only  1,969,000  and  1,505,000,  and  were  thus 
rejected.  Out  of  the  two  chief  points  at  issue,  direct 
action  and  nationalization,  the  open  revolutionary  one 
was  evaded,  and  the  direct  challenge  of  Mr.  Tom  Shaw, 
M.P.,  to  the  defenders  of  direct  action,  such  as  Mr. 
Smillie  and  Mr.  Williams,  was  declined.  Mr.  Shaw's 
proposal  to  move  a  resolution  "  that  this  Congress 
declares  against  the  principle  of  direct  action  in  purely 
political  matters "  was  shelved  by  a  "  previous 


220    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

question."  But  that  very  attitude  showed  clearly 
that  face  to  face  with  Mr.  Smillie's  followers  '  no  other 
tactics  but  that  of  drift  was  possible.  That  was,  indeed, 
Mr.  Thomas's  tactics,  whose  resolution  on  the  withdrawal 
of  British  troops  from  Russia,  and  on  the  repeal  of  the 
Conscription  Act,  was  supported  by  Mr.  Smillie,  while 
himself  he  seconded  Mr.  Smillie's  resolution  on  nation- 
alization. The  first  resolution  was  carried  with  only 
two  dissentient  voices,  the  second  had  the  over- 
whelming majority  of  4,478,000  votes  against  77,000 
of  Mr.  Havelock  Wilson's  Union  (the  Sailors  and 
Firemen).  Both  resolutions  wound  up  by  the  instruc- 
tion to  the  Parliamentary  Committee  to  call  a  special 
Trade  Union  Congress  "  to  decide  what  action  shall 
be  taken,"  or  even  (in  the  second  resolution)  to  decide 
"  the  form  of  action  to  be  taken  to  compel  the  Govern- 
ment," in  case  of  their  refusal  to  comply  with  the 
Trade  Unions'  demands.  The  "  direct  action  "  was 
thus  to  remain  as  a  menace,  while  Russia's  defence 
against  Lenin  was  finally  dropped,  even  by  the  most 
moderate  Labour  leaders.  They  might  be  fully  aware 
that  Bolshevist  Russia,  as  Mr.  Tom  Shaw  stated  it, 
"  was  not  socialistic,"  that  "  to  call  it  republic  was  a 
misuse  in  terms,"  and  that  "  Litvinov  himself  told  us 
at  Nottingham  that  Democracy  was  merely  a  word." 
But  they  acted  as  if  they  fully  believed  in  Mr.  Smillie's 
statement,  that  "  there  was  no  greater  Labour  question 
in  the  world  than  that  of  intervention  in  Russia," 
because  "  the  Socialists  in  Russia,  led  by  Lenin, 

1  They  were  thought  to  consist  of  the  700,000  miners,  most, 
if  not  all,  of  the  500,000  railwaymen,  some  sections  of  the 
250,000  transport  workers,  the  300,000  engineers,  and  a  large 
number  of  the  smaller  Trade  Unions.  The  vote  for  two 
(defeated)  Miners'  candidates  makes  out  their  general  item. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION 

were    fighting   the   fight    of    Socialism   for   the  whole 
world." 

I  am  not  going  to  discuss  the  elements  of  Bolshevism 
and  that  of  sound  Labour  movement  in  the  attempts 
to  practice  direct  action  through  national  strikes  on 
presumably  industrial  issues.  One  of  these  attempts 
preceded,  the  other  closely  followed,  the  Trades  Union 
Congress  in  Glasgow.  Both  were  started  by  the  more 
advanced  members  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  the  Miners 
and  the  Railwaymen.  In  both  the  leaders  closely 
connected  with  the  Socialism,  such  as  Messrs.  Smillie 
and  Cramp,  took  the  leading  part,  to  the  great 
detriment  of  the  community  and  the  "  direct  actors  " 
themselves.  I  do  not  pretend  to  prophesy  what  will 
be  the  further  developments,  and  whether  the  special 
Congress  foreshadowed  by  the  Glasgow  resolution  will 
meet  and  decide  upon  direct  action  on  openly  acknow- 
ledged political  issues.  But  I  must  emphasize  that 
political  issues  have  already  been  influenced  by  the 
attitude  of  Labour  in  the  sense  foreseen  and  looked  for 
by  the  Bolshevist  propaganda.  The  Government  have 
been  handicapped  in  their  foreign  policy  by  the  people 
who  think  that  Lenin  is  "  fighting  the  fight  of  Socialism 
for  the  whole  world."  And  if  the  cause  of  Lenin  will 
be  lost,  it  is  not  owing  to  the  lack  of  "  intervention  " 
in  his  favour  on  the  part  of  his  friends  in  England. 
So  far  as  the  other  issue  of  the  international  Labour 
movement  is  concerned,  that  of  Germany,  I  may  be 
permitted  to  quote  the  leading  article  of  the  Vorwarts 
on  September  i8th,  discussing  the  chances  of  the 
revision  of  the  Peace  Treaty.  "  There  are  two  possible 
means  to  that  end,"  the  writer  says,  "  one  being  the 
League  of  Nations,  which  would  mean  long  delay, 


222    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

the  other,  infinitely  more  desirable,  '  revolutionizing  ' 
the  Western  Powers.  The  results  of  the  Trades  Union 
Congress  in  Glasgow  are  very  important  from  this 
standpoint.  The  fact  of  British  organized  Labour 
becoming  more  extreme  and  the  resolution  by  a  majority 
of  the  Congress  to  employ  every  means,  even  direct 
industrial  action  (meaning  a  political  strike  en  masse], 
to  force  the  Government  to  do  its  will  or  overthrow 
it,  are  phenomena  of  very  far-reaching  significance 
for  Germans  as  well  as  for  the  British.  There  is  a 
possibility  in  the  immediate  future  of  a  Labour  Govern- 
ment in  England  "  which  will  result,  according  to  the 
Vorwarts,  in  Messrs.  Ramsay  Macdonald  and  A.  Hender- 
son replacing  Lloyd  George  and  Churchill.  "  What  this 
would  mean  for  the  German  workers  clearly  appears 
from  the  resolutions  of  the  Southport  Congress  in  July 
and  the  declaration  of  the  British  delegation  at  the 
Lucerne  Congress  in  August.  .  .  .  The  assumption  of 
Government  in  England  by  the  working  class  would 
mean  a  speedy  and  whole-hearted  revision  of  the  Ver- 
sailles Peace  Treaty  and  the  liberation  of  the  German 
nation  from  the  yoke  of  capitalist  slavery." 

I  need  not  dwell  so  long  upon  the  Bolshevist  move- 
ment in  other  Allied  countries,  France  and  Italy,  the 
general  character  of  the  phenomena  there  being  the 
same  as  in  England.  The  chief  difference  is  that  both 
these  countries,  not  enjoying  the  advantages  of  "  insu- 
larity," do  not  also  share  in  its  drawbacks,  and  are 
much  more  imbued  with  national  feeling  as  opposed 
to  invading  internationalism.  That  is  why  the 
internationalist  movement,  if  even  it  takes  here 
much  more  uncompromising  forms  and  attitudes,  is 
more  clearly  differentiated  from  other  political  currents, 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         223 

and  better  kept  within  its  own  limits,  thus  becoming 
less  contagious  for  larger  masses.  The  fact  that  a  far 
greater  part  of  the  population  there  belongs  to  the 
agricultural  class  than  is  the  case  in  England  contributes 
to  the  same  result.  There  is,  namely,  much  less  hope 
left  of  arriving  at  the  "  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  " 
by  the  method  of  Parliamentary  action,  and  the  only 
way  which  remains  is,  indeed,  violence.  We  must  not 
forget  that  the  doctrine  of  violence  and  of  the  Commu- 
nist rule  by  minority  has  been  first  worked  out  in 
France.  The  "  petty  bourgeoisie "  of  agriculturists 
here,  as  well  as  in  Russia,  cannot  appreciate  the 
advantages  of  a  Communist  Republic.  That  is  also, 
perhaps,  the  reason  why  the  Communist  verbiage  here 
being  much  more  daring  and  sonorous,  the  net  result 
of  it  is  much  less  significant  than  in  this  country.  There 
is,  so  to  speak,  much  less  genuineness  and  much  more 
hypocrisy  in  it.  The  Vorwdrts,  obviously,  is  led  by 
the  right  instinct,  while  putting  all  their  hopes,  not  on 
France  or  Italy,  but  on  England. 

So  far  as  similarity  of  developments  within  Socialism 
itself  is  concerned,  the  best  evidence  is  that  of  M. 
Albert  Thomas. i  "  The  Socialist  groups  in  France," 
says  M.  Thomas,  "  since  the  Armistice  have  been 
torn  by  two  conflicting  tendencies.  One  set  argues  as 
follows  :  The  war  has  upset  the  capitalist  system. 
The  middle  class  has  proved  itself  incapable.  It  can 
no  longer  hold  in  leash  popular  forces  in  revolt.  Old 
social  bulwarks  are  crumbling.  For  two  years,  in  spite 
of  all  predictions  to  the  contrary,  Bolshevism  has 
prevailed  in  Russia.  Germany,  full  of  her  own  troubles, 
has  so  far  only  dallied  with  revolution.  The  Soldiers' 

1  See  The  Times,  French  number,  September  6,  1919,  p.  35. 


224    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

and  Workers'  Councils  are  awaiting  their  opportunity. 
It  is  only  as  a  result  of  the  intrigues  of  the  Entente 
that  Bolshevism  has  failed  in  Hungary.  The  peace 
which  has  been  imposed  by  the  victorious  nations  is 
a  peace  of  Imperialism  and  of  plunder  pure  and  simple. 
The  time  has  arrived  for  revolutions  in  the  West.  The 
old  Parliamentarianism  has  had  its  day.  Democracy 
is  nothing  more  than  a  middle-class  conception.  Here, 
in  France,  too,  we  must  establish  the  dictatorship 
of  the  proletariat.  To  this  argument  the  reply  is  as 
follows  :  '  It  is  certain  that  labour  has  achieved  new 
rights  and  is  entitled  to  assert  them.  It  is  certain  that 
political  democracy  must  expand  into  a  vast  social 
democracy,  whose  principle  must  henceforth  determine 
the  policy  of  each  and  every  nation  in  the  family  of 
nations.  No  doubt  these  changes  must  take  place 
with  but  little  delay,  and  the  rights  of  the  producers 
be  proclaimed  in  the  creation  of  the  machinery  of 
production  on  the  basis  of  collectivism.  But  this 
profound  revolution  must  be  carried  out  in  an  orderly 
and  legal  way,  chiefly  through  the  education  of  the 
proletariat.  Political  revolution  is  one  thing,  social 
revolution  is  another,  far  more  delicate,  far  more 
complex.  Following  upon  any  sudden  and  violent 
seizure  of  political  power,  triumphant  Socialism  would 
be  called  upon  to  carry  out  a  vast  labour  of  methodical 
organization.  Our  duty  is  to  insist  that  this  work 
should  be  undertaken  forthwith.'  ' 

M.  Albert  Thomas  is  still  more  explicit  in  his  small 

leaflet,  Bolchevisme  ou  Socialisme,  distributed  amongst 

his    political    friends.1     Here    he    defends    the    second 

view,  which  is  now  only  shared  by  the  minority  of  the 

1  Berger  Levrault,   Nancy,  Paris,   Fevrier   1919,   p.    16. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         225 

Party,  since  the  majority  in  July  1918  has  become 
Bolshevist  and  Zimmerwaldian.  M.  Thomas  reproduces 
in  full  the  argument  of  his  opponents  in  order  to  refute 
it.  No,  he  states,  one  cannot  deny  that  the  Bolsheviks 
have  committed  atrocities  and  violated  all  liberties. 
No,  one  cannot  compare  Russian  Bolshevism  with  the 
French  Revolution,  since  Lenin  asserts  what  Robes- 
pierre had  never  asserted — that  130,000  Bolsheviks 
can  govern  100,000,000  inhabitants.  No,  one  cannot 
abstain  from  action  in  Russia,  if  even  to  defend 
the  borderlands  of  Russia  arid  to  bring  the  Bolshevist 
Government  to  reason.  No,  fighting  the  Bolsheviks 
does  not  mean  committing  treason  on  Socialism  ;  on 
the  contrary,  it  means  serving  Socialism.  No,  the 
Bolshevist  "  revolutionism  "  is  no  excuse  for  them, 
because,  in  the  first  place,  revolution  does  not  necessarily 
mean  violence  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  no  revolu- 
tionary outbreak  can  be  successful  under  the  conditions 
of  universal  reconstruction.  No,  the  working  class 
must  not  isolate  oneself  by  taking  the  attitude  of 
irreducible  hostility  against  the  rest  of  the  nation.  The 
whole  nation  must  take  up  the  realizable  elements  of 
the  working  men's  programme,  and  this  is  the  only 
safe  way  to  assure  its  success. 

One  sees  at  once  that  within  the  French  Socialist 
party,  which  has  much  more  right  in  France  to  be 
considered  as  representing  the  whole  Labour  movement, 
the  situation  is  by  far  more  serious  than  it  is  the 
case  in  this  country.  Bolshevism  and  international 
revolution  is  the  chief  issue.  M.  Albert  Thomas  belongs 
to  the  extreme  right  of  the  French  Socialism,  while 
the  views  he  combats  are  shared  by  the  great  majority. 
The  question  was  even  raised  as  to  the  exclusion  from 

15 


226    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

the  Party  of  M.  Albert  Thomas  and  his  adherents  for 
having  voted  the  Budget  after  the  Armistice.  After 
a  violent  and  protracted  debate  at  the  last  National 
Congress  of  the  Party  (September  12,  1919),  the  passion- 
ate appeal  for  preserving  the  unity  of  Party  has  prevailed, 
and  the  sentence  of  excommunication  was  defeated  by 
1,427  votes  against  490.  But  the  crime  of  their  having 
voted  the  military  credits  was  severely  condemned, 
and  henceforth  refractory  members  were  menaced  with 
expulsion.  The  international  point  of  view  has  thus 
won  a  decisive  victory  over  the  national  in  the  post-war 
Socialism  in  France. 

France  has  remained  what  it  has  always  been  :  the 
intellectual  centre  of  revolutionary  extremism.  The 
"  National  Socialism,"  planned  by  MM.  Laskine, 
Zevaes,  and  the  men  from  La  Victoire,  seems  to  have 
little  chance  of  success.  The  question  which  is  being 
discussed  now  is,  not  how  to  reconcile  Socialism  with 
patriotic  issues,  but  how  to  reconcile  the  Second  Inter- 
national with  the  Third — Berne  with  Moscow.  That 
is  why  all  international  issues  of  the  proletarian  move- 
ment start  from,  or  finish  with,  Paris.  That  is  also 
why  the  questions  at  issue  are  treated  by  the  French 
leaders  with  the  refinement  of  ideology  which  is  unknown 
elsewhere,  and  can  only  be  compared  to  that  of  the 
Russian  "  intelligentsia."  The  subjects  of  inter- 
nationalist discussion  are,  of  course,  in  France  the  same 
as  everywhere  :  direct  action,  national  strike,  inter- 
vention in  Russia,  the  iniquities  of  the  "  capitalist  " 
Peace  Treaty.  But,  in  the  first  place,  here  they  are 
treated  more  profusely,  and,  perhaps,  in  a  different 
order  of  their  importance  ;  and,  secondly,  it  is  chiefly 
in  France  that  they  are  made  use  of  for  international 


227 

discussion  and  international  action.  We  may  quote, 
as  two  outstanding  instances,  the  Congress  of  Lucerne 
and  the  attempt  to  organize  an  international  "  sympa- 
thetic strike  "  of  July  21,  1919. 

The  Lucerne  Conference  of  August  2,  1919,  was 
intended  to  do  preparatory  work  for  the  plenary 
International  Congress  at  Geneva,  February  2,  1920. 
But  the  revolutionary  Socialists  were  too  impatient 
and  too  much  dissatisfied  with  the  moderation  of  the 
decisions  taken  by  the  Berne  Conference  six  months 
ago,  not  to  use  their  opportunity.  The  character  of 
debate  at  Lucerne  has  indeed  demonstrated  the  great 
gain  of  the  ground  by  the  extremist  Socialism  in  a 
short  space  of  the  last  half  a  year.  M.  Marcel  Cachin 
was  the  spokesman  of  the  French  majority,  and  that  is 
how  he  formulated  his  view  on  the  very  day  of  the 
opening  of  the  Conference  (see  L'Humanite,  August  4, 
1919).  He  accused  the  Executive  Commission  of  the 
Berne  Conference  of  inactivity  and  slackness.  "  One 
wished  to  act  in  a  diplomatic  way,  while  the  people 
wanted  energetic  appeals  to  action.  Discreet  pressure 
upon  statesmen  of  the  Allied  bourgeoisie  was  attempted. 
The  attempts  remained  without  result.  These  tactics 
made  the  Berne  International  lose  the  confidence,  not 
of  the  governing  personalities  of  the  Entente,  but  also 
of  the  peoples.  It  is  high  time  to  break  with  such 
methods  if  one  does  not  wish  to  see  this  confidence 
irrevocably  lost.  One  must  propose  to  the  proletariat 
a  pondered  programme  of  a  positive  action.  It  is 
important  to  understand  that  political  and  economical 
framework  of  the  bourgeois  society  is  going  to  collapse, 
and  that  our  duty  is  not  to  strive  to  respect  them  at 
any  cost,  but  to  break  them,  in  order  that  Socialism  shall 


228    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

be  born.  Neither  democracy,  nor  parliamentarianism, 
as  they  are  understood  by  the  bourgeois  rulers,  are  able, 
without  profoundest  transformations,  to  be  equal  to  the 
new  state  of  things  which  is  being  created  under  our  eyes. 
The  Lucerne  Conference,  lest  it  fail  in  its  turn,  must  boldly 
define  its  action,  push  the  energies  of  the  masses  to  the 
maximum,  and  keep  in  closest  contact  with  them." 

Arthur  Henderson,  Ramsay  Macdonald,  Emil  Vander- 
velde,  proved  quite  out  of  date  when  measured  by 
that  last  word  of  Socialist  wisdom,  not  to  speak  of 
Edward  Bernstein,  whose  speech  was  respectfully 
listened  to  in  silence  as  a  voice  from  the  tomb.  Did 
not  Mr.  Macdonald  defend  the  obsolete  "  conceptions 
of  democratic  Socialism,"  and  insist  that  "  we  must 
declare  ourselves  for  Democracy  ?  "  Did  not  Mr. 
Henderson  think  it  a  "  duty  of  Labour  leaders  to 
enlighten  the  Government  "  and  to  "warn  them  against 
the  terrible  spasm  of  despair  and  rage  bound  to  seize 
the  peoples  of  Europe  before  the  end  of  the  winter  ?  " 
And  did  not  the  pat; larch  of  revisionism,  Edward 
Bernstein,  declare  against  the  principle  of  Workers' 
Councils,  while  still  adhering  to  the  "  admirable  weapon 
of  the  universal  suffrage  "  ?  Of  course,  all  that  old 
rubbish  could  not  move  the  interpreters  of  the  new 
doctrine  like  Longuet  or  Cachin.  Instead,  they  found 
supporters  in  the  persons  of  Mr.  Troelstra  and  the 
young  representative  of  the  German  Independents, 
Mr.  Hilferding.  Both  Longuet  and  Hilferding  threat- 
ened to  break  with  the  Second  International  and  to 
pass  to  the  Third,  if  the  decisions  of  the  Conference 
are  not  sufficiently  extremist ;  and  both  declared  that 
the  cause  of  the  International  stands  and  falls  with 
the  fate  of  the  "  Eastern  revolutions  "  in  Russia  and 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION        229 

Hungary.  "  One  must  first  of  all  take  vigorous  action 
(they  do  not  speak  here  of  "  non-intervention  ")  to 
prevent  the  Socialist  Revolution  from  being  crushed," 
were  M.  Longuet's  words.  The  Independents,  M. 
Hilferding  said,  "  will  never  consent  to  condemn  the 
Bolsheviks,"  and  M.  Longuet  outdid  him.  Why,  we 
must  express  "  popular  sympathy  with  Bolsheviks, 
prosecuted  by  the  bourgeois  Governments."  One  can 
easily  understand  the  allusion  of  M.  Camille  Huysmans 
saying  :  "  Certain  delegates  whom  the  war  had  separ- 
ated are  now  much  closer  to  each  other  than  certain 
others  who  had  fought  at  their  side  during  the  war." 
One  cannot  better  emphasize  the  work  done  at  Lucerne. 
Internationalism  was  here  finally  substituted  for  the 
point  of  view  of  National  Defence  and  the  "  Sacred 
Union."  The  majority  of  the  Congress  proved  to  be 
on  the  side  of  the  Extremists,  as  may  be  judged  by  the 
approval  given  to  some  amendments  moved  by  Mr. 
Mistral,  in  order  to  define  the  principles  and  the  aim  of 
Socialism  as  essentially  revolutionary  and  communist. 

"It  is  a  long,  long  way  from  Berne  to  Lucerne," 
M.  Marcel  Cachin  said.  One  might  add  that  the  way 
is  still  longer  from  Lucerne  to  the  real  surroundings  in 
which  the  fight  of  socialistic  parties  in  different  countries 
is  being  fought.  The  great  distance  from  doctrine  to 
its  application  can  be  easily  traced  in  one  single  instance 
where  an  attempt  was  made  to  bring  about  a  compara- 
tively modest  international  action  in  compliance  with 
the  demands  of  the  resurgent  International. 

The  initiative  this  time  was  taken  by  Italy.  As 
early  as  April,  after  five  months'  propaganda  in  the 
official  newspaper,  the  Avanti,  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  begin  a  Bolshevist  movement  by  a  twenty-four 


230    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

hours'  general  strike.  The  strike  was  arranged  in 
secrecy  by  the  Federal  Labour  Exchange,  and  has 
come  as  a  surprise  in  Rome.  Processions  were  to 
march  down  the  Corso  ;  a  big  mass  meeting  was  to  be 
held  at  the  Piazza  del  Popolo,  in  commemoration,  as 
the  posters  intended  to  announce,  of  the  Spartacists 
who  were  killed  in  Berlin,  and  a  holiday  was  to  be 
taken  in  honour  of  Lenin.  Demonstrations  were 
prohibited  by  the  Government,  and  the  strike  proved 
a  complete  failure.  But  the  idea  remained,  and  was 
made  international  on  the  occasion  of  the  arrival  at 
Rome  and  Milan  of  M.  Longuet  and  Mr.  Ramsay 
Macdonald.  After  the  Amsterdam  International  Con- 
gress in  April  Mr.  Macdonald  came,  in  June  1919,  to 
Italy  and  to  Switzerland,  with  the  mission  to  convert 
local  Socialist  parties  to  the  Second  International 
from  the  Third.  But  he  returned  with  an  opposite 
mission.  The  Italians  said  the  Second  International 
was  too  tame  for  them,  and  instead  of  propagating  unity 
he  had  better  start  a  propaganda  for  really  important 
issues ;  action  in  favour  of  Bolshevist  Russia  and 
protest  against  the  "  imperialistic  "  peace  of  Versailles. 
At  Milan  M.  Longuet  joined  in  the  deliberations,  and 
the  question  of  a  general  strike  in  all  three  countries 
was  discussed.  Mr.  Macdonald  warned  them  that 
success  was  very  doubtful  in  England,  but  M.  Longuet 
eagerly  took  up  the  suggestion.  The  Confederal 
National  Committee  of  the  French  Union  of  Syndi- 
cates had  already  (May  26th-27th)  decided  on  an  in- 
ternational strike  of  twenty-four  hours.  The  spirit  and 
the  initial  aims  were  identical  with  those  discussed  at 
Milan.  It  is  once  more  corroborated  by  the  Manifesto 
of  the  German  Independents  on  the  subject  of  their 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         231 

strike.     This  is  how  they  state  it  in  an  Appeal  pub- 
lished by  the  Freiheit : 

The  movement  of  the  militant  proletariat  is  making  con- 
siderable progress  .  .  .  ;  the  class  struggle  is  extending  and 
strikes  root  everywhere.  .  .  .  Gradually  one  begins  to  realize 
that  it  is  not  imperialistic  peace  that  will  achieve  the  great 
social  transformation  for  which  war  served  as  an  important  stimu- 
lant ;  the  aim  of  liberation  can  only  be  attained  by  the  revolu- 
tionary effort  of  the  working  class,  by  destruction  of  capitalism, 
by  the  realization  of  Socialism  by  a  proletarian  dictature.  These 
ideas  are  striking  root  even  among  the  working  men  of  the  vic- 
torious countries.  On  July  21,  the  French,  English,  and  Italian 
proletarians  propose  to  make  an  imposing  demonstration  and  to 
start  on  strike  of  protest  against  the  imperialist  violence  manifested 
in  the  Treaty  of  Versailles,  as  well  as  against  the  help  given  by 
the  Governments  to  the  Russian  reactionaries.  The  proletariat 
of  a  great  number  of  neutral  countries  are  also  decided  to  take 
part  in  this  manifestation  in  order  to  transform  it  into  a  mani- 
festation of  international  solidarity  and  Socialist  combativeness. 

We  have  here  a  new  instance  of  the  working  of  the 
same  pro-German  machinery  known  to  us  on  the  occa- 
sion of  so  many  attempts  to  impose  on  the  Allied  coun- 
tries a  peace  of  understanding  in  war-time. 

The  Administrative  Committee  of  the  C.G.T.  (Con- 
federation Generate  du  Travail)  took  up  the  scheme. 
But  it  was  unable  to  carry  it  through  in  its  original 
purity.  Responsible  leaders  of  French  Syndicalism  knew 
only  too  well  that  attempts  to  use  strikes  for  avowedly 
revolutionary  aims  invariably  end  in  a  fiasco.  There 
was  much  shooting  and  rioting  in  Paris  on  May  ist, 
but  there  were  nearly  no  representatives  of  the  great 
Trade  Unions  taking  part  in  the  armed  conflicts  with  the 
police.  Out  of  the  ninety-seven  men  armed  with 
revolvers  and  knuckle-dusters  who  were  arrested,  the 
great  majority  were  young  people  whose  heads  had 
been  turned  by  the  Bolshevik  propaganda,  or  men  with 
criminal  records,  mostly  foreigners — Italians,  Russians, 


232    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Turks,  Spaniards,  and  Swiss.  An  attempt  to  censure 
the  Executive  of  the  Railway  Union  at  its  Congress  for 
their  half-hearted  support  of  the  May  ist  demonstra- 
tions ended  in  a  vote  of  confidence  to  the  Executive 
(represented  by  Mr.  Bidegaray)  by  174,319  against 
71,749.  When  metal-workers  on  strike  addressed  them- 
selves to  the  interfederal  cartel  of  working  organiza- 
tions with  the  proposal  to  help  them  by  proclaiming 
a  general  strike  on  political  issues  (demobilization, 
amnesty,  and  non-intervention  in  Russia),  the  "  cartel  " 
replied  (on  June  25th)  that  under  existing  conditions 
they  are  powerless  to  make  tolerably  efficient  a  decision 
to  that  effect.  That  is  why  the  Administrative  Com- 
mission of  the  C.G.T.,  while  arranging  for  a  twenty- 
four  hours'  strike  in  France,  preferred  to  change  the 
motive,  and  to  put  in  the  first  place,  together  with  the 
political  issues  proposed,  la  vie  chere — the  high  cost 
of  living — thus  making  the  strike  run  on  economic 
issue.  There  was  no  lack  in  grandiloquent  appeals,  all 
preparations  having  been  made,  all  measures  taken, 
all  orders  given  for  the  strike  to  be  really  magnificent 
and  imposing.  But  at  the  last  hour,  on  July  i8th, 
profiting  by  an  anti-ministerial  vote  of  the  Chamber  on 
questions  of  economy,  the  Administrative  Commission 
withdrew  its  orders  and  cancelled  its  dispositions,  while 
declaring  that  "  the  new  situation  created  by  the  vote 
makes  a  new  examination  necessary."  After  every- 
thing had  been  said  and  written  to  cover  the  retreat, 
Jouhaux,  in  his  great  speech  before  the  National  Council 
of  the  C.G.T.,  on  July  22nd,  explained  the  real  reason 
of  the  sudden  change  of  decision  : 

The  wish  to  have  a  thing  done  is  not  enough  to  make  that 
thing  possible.  In  spite  of  men's  will,  circumstances  are  some- 
times stronger  than  their  will.  I  am  not  of  those  who  think 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         233 

that  we  must  be  taken  in  tow  by  the  events.     We  must,  how- 
ever, deal  with  realities.  .  .  . 

Jouhaux  went  even  further  and  gave  his  own  view 
as  to  what  "  revolution  "  is.  It  is  not  the  thing  which 
one  suggests  sometimes  by  "  rolling  three  capital  R's," 
not  a  "  catastrophic  act  bringing  about  the  downfall 
of  a  system."  "  For  conscious  revolutionists,"  it  is, 
on  the  contrary,  "  a  long  process  of  evolution  which 
gradually  penetrates  a  system,  the  action  that  saps 
a  regime,  and  which,  within  that  system,  creates  a  new 
organism  to  take  its  place."  "  It  is  not  sufficient  to 
go  out  into  the  streets,  to  build  barricades,  to  make  a 
general  strike.  .  .  .  A  revolution  which  ends  in  famine  is 
not  a  revolution  ;  it  is  the  destruction  of  it.  ...  To  make 
revolution  means  to  start  on  a  large  constructive  busi- 
ness. Well,  such  a  revolution  cannot  be  achieved  by 
verbiage — it  needs  will  and  judgment.  It  needs  action 
of  a  persevering  and  tenacious  energy."  M.  Jouhaux 
reminds  his  audience  that  only  a  small  minority  among 
their  members  was  ready  for  such  an  action,  and  still  more 
so  after  the  great  influx  of  new  members,  who  do  not  know 
much  about  internal  divisions  within  Syndicalism  itself. 

The  result  is  that  M.  Jouhaux  in  Syndicalist  move- 
ment, as  well  as  M.  Thomas  in  Socialist  movement, 
now  belongs  to  the  right  wing.  He  in  his  turn  had  to 
defend  himself  against  violent  accusations  of  having 
collaborated  with  the  bourgeois  during  war-time. 
"  Jouhaux  shares  the  responsibility  with  such  people 
as  favoured  the  war,"  M.  Monatte  violently  shouted 
at  the  last  Congress  of  C.G.T.  at  Lyon  (September 
1919).  The  other  opponent,  M.  Monmousseau,  said  : 
"  We  must  return  to  the  true  Socialist  idea  of  class 
war,  instead  of  class  co-operation."  And  he  very 


234    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

strongly  blamed  the  Syndicalist  leaders  for  their  lack 
of  combativeness  on  chief  international  issues.  "  One 
has  not  made  a  sufficient  stand  against  the  unheard-of 
campaign  which  poisoned  the  public  opinion  on  and  about 
July  2ist.  One  has  not  made  a  satisfactory  propaganda 
in  the  country  to  raise  the  working  class  in  favour  of 
the  revolutions  in  Russia  and  in  Hungary.  .  .  .  One 
must  have  done  everything  in  order  to  save  Bela  Kun." 

Even  Merrheim,  the  Zimmerwaldian,  is  now  accused 
of  being  too  moderate,  and  he  avowed  that  he  had  told 
Lenin  at  Zimmerwald  that  France  was  not  ready  to 
raise  the  war  of  masses  against  the  war  and  to  start 
on  building  of  the  "  Third  International,"  as  Lenin 
had  insisted  already  at  that  time.  "  The  truth  is," 
Mr.  Merrheim  bluntly  said,  "  that  in  France  there  is 
revolutionary  situation,  but  there  is  no  revolutionary 
spirit."  Mr.  Jouhaux's  answer  was  as  conciliatory  as 
he  could  afford  :  "If  one  understands  under  class  co- 
operation taking  responsibility  for  the  acts  of  the 
Government,  I  have  not  co-operated.  But  if  it  means 
going  wherever  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the  working- 
class  interest,  then,  of  course,  I  have  co-operated." 

The  vote  of  the  Congress  at  Lyon,  as  at  the  contem- 
poraneous Socialist  Congress,  was  making  for  unity. 
Jouhaux's  report  was  approved  by  1,393  votes  against 
588.  But  here,  as  there,  unity  has  been  preserved  only 
by  way  of  drifting  to  the  left  of  the  whole  movement. 
On  December  igth  a  very  drastic  resolution  to  this 
effect  was  carried  by  the  great  majority  of  1,633  against 
323.  The  Congress  repeated  the  Amiens  declaration 
of  independence  of  the  Syndicalist  movement  from  all 
political  parties  (meaning  Socialism),  and  "  once  more  " 
reasserted  that  the  "  Syndicalist  ideal  can  only  be 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         235 

reached  by  the  complete  transformation  of  the 
Society."  The  class  struggle  was  declared  to  be 
"  a  fact  from  which  Syndicalism  desires  to  draw  all 
the  consequences." 

"  As  this  struggle  cannot  end  in  any  other  way  but 
suppression  of  all  classes,  the  Syndicalism  to  make  no 
equivocation  possible  declares  that  in  its  origin,  as 
well  as  in  its  present  character  and  in  its  permanent 
ideal,  it  is  a  revolutionary  force."  Again  and  again, 
"  to  avoid  ambiguity,"  the  declaration  asserts  that 
Syndicalism  "  prepares "  (which  is  a  concession  to 
"  ambiguity  ")  the  "  integral  emancipation  which  can- 
not be  otherwise  realized  than  by  the  capitalist  expro- 
priation," and  that  it  "  preaches  "  (another  concession), 
as  a  means  of  action,  the  general  strike.  .  .  .  More- 
over, the  declaration  emphasizes  that  it  "in  a  perma- 
nent way  proclaims  that  basic  conception  of  Syndicalist 
tactics,  which  is  direct  action."  But  (a  third  con- 
cession) "  the  declaration  cannot  make  believe  that  this 
action  finds  its  exact  and  exclusive  (concession  to  ex- 
tremist side)  expression  in  acts  of  violence  or  surprise,  or 
that  it  can  be  considered  as  a  weapon  that  can  be  utilized 
by  any  organization  external  to  Syndicalism."  Ob- 
viously, they  meant  to  leave  for  themselves  the  mono- 
poly of  "  violence,"  thus  trying  to  obviate  the  objections 
that  they  were  "  preaching  "  civil  war  !  In  the  same 
spirit  of  class  egoism  the  declaration  went  on  saying 
that  "  collective  conventions  "  of  the  working  men  with 
the  employers  have  only  one  value  :  that  of  "  trans- 
formation "  ;  "it  would  be  a  mistake  to  look  at  them 
as  a  co-operation."  Their  chief  aim  is  "to  reduce  the 
relations  between  employer  and  employee  to  a  bar- 
gaining which  encourages  effort  without  diminishing 


236  BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

energy."1  The  declaration,  moreover,  points  out  that 
no  exertion  to  increase  productivity  of  work  is  "  recon- 
cilable with  the  present  regime."  The  leading  idea  of 
Syndicalism  in  determining  their  tactics  is  that  "  the 
powerlessness  of  the  ruling  class  and  of  political  organi- 
zations (Parliament  is  meant)  from  day  to  day  becomes 
more  evident,  and  so  much  the  stronger  appears  the 
necessity  for  working  men  to  face  responsibilities  in  the 
management  of  Society." 

"  Management  "  is  here  used  instead  of  "  Adminis- 
tration," as  a  consequence  of  the  basic  idea  of  anarchical 
Syndicalism,  that  the  "  new  order  of  things  "  is  to  be 
founded  "  not  on  authority,  but  on  exchange  ;  not  on 
domination,  but  on  reciprocity ;  not  on  sovereignty, 
but  on  social  compact."  From  this  point  of  view  the 
Congress  of  Lyon  is  quite  sure  that  not  only  the  "  daily 
work  of  the  Syndicate  prepares  this  overthrow  of  values," 
but  even  immediate  solutions  can  be  achieved  "  without 
delay,"  namely,  nationalization  of  the  transport,  mines, 
water  currents,  and  great  credit  organizations.  However, 
they  do  not  forget  to  explain  that  nationalization  "  does 
not  mean  state  property."  "  Knowing  the  powerless- 
ness  of  political  institutions,  and  the  character  of  power, 
we  do  not  intend  to  increase  and  enlarge  the  functions 
of  the  State  nor  to  resort  to  a  system  which  would  make 
substantial  industries  depend  on  officialism  and  red 
tape."  Not  at  all.  "  We  understand  by  nationaliza- 
tion confiding  national  property  to  people  who  are  in- 
terested in  it — to  associated  producers  and  consumers." 

Last,  not  least,  the  Congress  of  Lyon  would  not 
forget  the  Russian  Revolution.  Their  resolution  "  once 

1  Ramener  ces  relations  a  un  march6  qui  encourage  1'effort 
sans  diminuer  l'6nergie. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         237 

more  proclaims  the  inalienable  right  of  the  peoples  for 
self-determination,  expresses  profound  sympathy  for  the 
Russian  Revolution,  protests  against  every  continua- 
tion of  the  armed  intervention  in  Russia,  and  against 
a  blockade  reducing  the  people  to  famine  because  of  its 
guilt  of  having  risen  against  the  oppressor." 

The  Congress  also  takes  practical  steps  in  order  to 
sabotage  the  intervention.  All  Syndicalist  organiza- 
tions of  transport  are  intimated  to  refuse  to  transport 
arms  and  munitions  destined  to  the  armies  of  Kolchak, 
and  Denikin.  The  "  reactionary  "  policy  of  the  Allies 
helping  both  of  them  is  severely  censured  ;  the  Congress 
"  exacts  that  peace  shall  be  concluded  with  the  Russian 
Revolution."  Such  is  the  last  word  of  Syndicalism, 
and  we  can  see  that  it  completely  coincides  with  the 
aims  and  the  methods  of  the  Bolshevik  propaganda. 
If  the  danger  is  not  so  great  as  it  looks,  it  is  chiefly 
due  not  to  the  intentions  of  the  authors  of  the  Lyon 
resolutions,  but  to  the  fact  disclosed  by  Mr.  Merrheim. 
In  France  this  revolutionary  verbiage  is  very  strong, 
but  the  true  revolutionary  spirit  among  the  masses  is 
decisively  lacking.  .  .  .  One  may  differ  in  explanation 
but  the  fact  itself  is  repeatedly  asserted  by  such  revolu- 
tionaries, even  the  Extremists  who  are  sincere  with 
themselves  and  with  the  public. 

The  difference  between  words  and  deeds  which  we 
saw  increasing  the  other  side  of  the  Channel  reaches 
its  climax  in  Italy.  The  "  official  "  Socialist  party  of 
this  country  is  one  of  the  most  extremist  on  the  Con- 
tinent. After  having  to  the  last  opposed  Italy's  en- 
trance into  the  war,  they  took  a  prominent  part  in  all 
German  plotting  for  strengthening  the  international 
opposition  to  war.  They,  to  be  sure,  were  not  guilty 


238    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

of   voting   military   credits   or   otherwise   co-operating 
with  the  bourgeois  classes.     But,  then,  they  met  with  a 
growing  wave  of  national  feeling  tinted  with  Irredent- 
ism,   all   the   more   unquiet   and   feverish   as   national 
claims  of  Italy  met  with  obstacles  on  the  part  of  the 
Peace  Conference.     Italy  was,  perhaps,  the  only  country 
where,  after  the  Armistice,  the  Premier  was  able  to  de- 
clare, as  an  argument  for  the  vote  of  confidence,  that 
war  was  not  yet  over,  that  difficulties,  far  from  being 
removed,  now  only  began,  and  that  there  could  be  no 
talk  of  demobilization.     (Orlando,  December  15,  1918.) 
And  M.    Nitti   was,  of   course,   the   only   Minister   of 
Finance  who  could  second  M.  Orlando  by  saying  that, 
to  extricate  the  country  from  her  new  obligations,  and 
to  wind  up  the  national  success,  one  thing  was  needed  : 
taxes,  taxes,  and  taxes.    That  state  of  feeling  was  bound 
to  influence  even  the  Extremist  Socialists.     They  were 
divided  in  two  sections  :   Confederates   and   Indepen- 
dents.    The  Confederates,  who  had  denounced  the  war, 
were  now  striving   to   overthrow  the   regime   and  to 
establish  a  Communist  Republic  under  proletarian  dic- 
tatorship.    The  Independents,  who  had  approved  Italy's 
belligerency,    were    now    disappointed    in    the    results. 
They  wish   to  forestall  and  hinder  the   vaster  strike 
planned    by   the    Confederates    for    the    revolutionary 
purposes.     But  just  like  moderate  Socialist  trimmers 
in  France  and  in  Great  Britain,  they  still  have  pro- 
claimed a  strike  on  the  plausible  ground  to  protest 
against  the  high  cost  of  living.1 

But   even   that   milder   attitude   met   with   patrotic 
opposition  of  one  part  of  the  population  and  with  the 

1  See  Dr.  E.  T.  Dillon's  correspondence  in  the  Daily  Telegraph 
on  June  20,   1919. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         239 

apathy  of  the  other.  As  early  as  February  24,  1919, 
Signor  Serrati,  fresh  from  his  Turin  prison,  bitterly 
complained  that  it  was  the  Socialist  party  alone  which 
was  so  much  more  active  than  any  other.  At  the 
same  time  he  told  his  admirers  that  Russia  was  the  only 
nation  which  had  found  the  right  way  to  treat  the  claims 
of  the  proletariat.  In  April  the  Parliamentary  Group 
of  the  official  Socialist  party  tried  to  bridge  the  chasm 
between  the  two  extremes  of  Bolshevism  favouring 
the  "  action "  and  patriotism  refusing  co-operation. 
They  published  a  Manifesto  where  they  tried  to  unite 
all  elements  in  a  common  protest  against  the  Paris  Con- 
ference preparing  a  peace  that  would  "  rival  Brest - 
Litovsk."  In  case  the  events  should  justify  this 
assumption,  the  Parliamentary  Group  called  for  a 
general  strike.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  an  attempt  for  a 
twenty-four  hours'  strike  was  tried  in  Rome,  on  April 
loth,  by  the  Federal  Labour  Exchange.  But  most  of 
the  local  labour  organizations  refused  to  adhere  to  it, 
as  the  avowed  aim  of  the  strike  leaders  was  to  start 
by  this  strike  a  Bolshevist  movement.  The  strike  fell 
flat,  and  only  provoked  strong  patriotic  demonstrations 
against  the  strikers. 

A  week  later  another  attempt  at  a  general  strike  was 
tried  by  the  Extremists  in  Milan,  Turin,  Genoa, 
Bologne,  and  Brescia.  After  three  days  this  movement 
was  also  defeated.  In  July  a  new  wave  of  unrest  passed 
through  the  Italian  provinces,  and  the  Socialists  tried 
to  base  upon  it  their  scheme  for  bringing  about  an 
international  strike  in  favour  of  Bolshevism.  The 
Parliamentary  Group  of  the  party  had  at  that  time 
voted  an  order  of  the  day  inviting  their  members  to 
refuse  every  co-operation  with  the  ruling  classes,  even 


240    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

in  the  form  of  mixed  committees,  and  to  organize  Work- 
men's Committees,  where  they  had  not  yet  been  started. 
The  second  order  of  the  day  was  to  the  effect  directly 
to  introduce  into  the  Chamber  the  questions  of 
amnesty,  demobilization  and  cessation  of  all  hos- 
tilities against  the  Soviet  Republics  in  Russia  and 
Hungary.  The  unity  of  international  direction  is  well 
proved  by  these  decisions.  But  the  only  practical 
manifestation  of  that  unity,  the  strike  of  July  2ist, 
was  not  a  success  in  Italy  any  more  than  in  France. 

The  new  Premier,  M.  Nitti,  sent  a  circular  to  the 
Prefects  in  order  to  prevent  disturbances.  "  The 
Governments  which  do  not  defend  themselves,"  he 
said,  "  have  no  reason  to  exist ;  institutions  which  do 
not  make  themselves  respected  are  not  durable  ;  liberty 
and  democracy  do  not  live  where  there  is  no  force  to 
defend  them." 

These  sound  maxims  were  followed  ;  the  big  Unions, 
in  great  majority,  proved  against  the  strike.  The 
next  day  the  Avanti  declared  that,  among  its 
advantages,  one  was  undoubted :  that  of  having 
"  elucidated  the  Parliamentary  situation." 

Before  I  close  this  chapter  I  have  to  mention  the 
important  results  of  the  political  elections  in  three 
Allied  countries  on  mid-November,  which  took  place 
after  the  above  lines  had  been  written.  In  France 
these  results  confirm  entirely  my  reading  of  the  situa- 
tion created  by  the  violent  pro-Bolshevist  propaganda. 
The  nation  emphatically  disavowed  this  propaganda. 

Not  only  the  leader  of  the  "  Defeatists,"  M.  Longuet 
was  beaten  heavily  at  the  poll.  Even  the  more  moderate 
Renaudel,  who  committed  the  mistake  of  surrendering 
his  former,  more  reasonable,  position  for  the  new 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         241 

extremism    of    his     successors    in    the    editorship    of 
L'Humanite,  fell  through.     Even  M.  Franklin  Bouillon, 
who  conducted  a  furious   campaign  against  the  Peace 
Treaty,  was  beaten  by  M.  Tardieu,  one  of  its  chief  pro- 
moters.   On  the  other  hand,  the  four  Socialists  who  were 
excluded  from  the  party  as  "  traitors  "  for  having  voted 
military  credits  were  all  returned.     The  Old  Socialist 
"  renegades,"  like  M.  Briand  and   M.  Millerand,  were 
elected.     Moreover,  the   leading   men   of  the  Extreme 
Nationalist  campaign,  such  as  Maurice  Barres  and  Leon 
Daudet,  from  the  Action  Franfaise,  were  also  returned. 
This  result  presents  a  very  interesting  parallel  to  the 
British    Parliamentary    elections    of     December    1918. 
The  Extremist  Socialists,   as  well  as   the  inconsistent 
Radical  Liberals,  there  as  well  as  here  disappeared  from 
their  respective  Houses.     In  both  cases,  also,  the  nation 
demonstrated     their    tiredness     of    the    old    gang    of 
politicians  by  electing   an  unusually  large  number  of 
quite   new  members. 

On  the  contrary,  in  Belgium  the  Socialists  have 
reaped  the  reward  for  their  patriotic  attitude  towards 
the  war  and  for  their  strongly  anti-Bolshevist  and 
anti-German  propaganda  in  the  international  Socialist 
circles.  They  polled  the  heaviest  vote  in  the  country, 
numbering  675,000  as  .against  620,000  Catholics  and 
310,000  Liberals.  They  are  here  particularly  bent  on 
"  reconstruction  "  after  the  war,  and  their  choice  con- 
firmed the  popular  wish  to  see  Belgium  recovered 
as  soon  as  possible  from  the  economic  ruin  to  which 
German  occupation  had  brought  this  unfortunate 
country. 

It  is  not  so  easy  to  bring  the  result  of  the  Italian 
elections   into   harmony   with   our   observations.     The 

16 


242    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Socialists  here  have  got  more  than  twice  as  many 
Deputies  in  the  Chamber  as  they  had  before,  chiefly 
at  the  expense  of  severely  defeated  Nationalists.  Their 
extremist  pro-Bolshevist  attitude  apparently  did  not 
interfere  with  their  success.  Of  course,  it  does  not  yet 
mean  that  the  Italian  Socialists'  electoral  success  is 
to  be  explained  by  their  extremism.  In  electing  them, 
the  chief  motive  of  the  Italian  elector  seems  to  have 
been  more  negative  than  positive.  It  was  not  so  much 
approval  of  Socialism  as  entire  disapproval  of  the 
Government  accused  of  having  been  too  weak  both 
towards  the  Allies  and  the  Italian  Nationalists. 
Another  form  of  manifesting  this  feeling  of  dissatisfac- 
tion was  an  abnormally  high  "  absenteeism  "  from  the 
elections.  Only  26  per  cent,  electors  voted,  and,  owing 
partly  to  this  apathy  of  the  Liberal  bourgeoisie,  partly 
to  extremely  complicated  electoral  system  newly  in- 
troduced, only  the  best  organized  parties,  such  as 
Socialists  and  Catholics,  profited  by  the  situation.  It 
must  be  noticed  that  the  great  number  of  the  Socialists 
elected  did  not  at  all  belong  to  the  extremist  set. 

Even  such  an  organ  as  the  New  Statesman,  which  is 
always  sympathetic  to  international  Bolshevism,  and 
which  tries  to  explain  the  defeat  of  Socialism  in  France 
in  the  same  way  as  British  Radicals  used  to  explain 
the  December  Parliamentary  elections,  namely,  that 
the  election  was  fought  on  a  panic  issue  " — even  the 
New  Statesman  understands  the  general  meaning  of  the 
November  elections.  "  The  nation  is  tired,"  this 
periodical  states,  "  and  there  is  a  widespread  longing 
for  tranquillity.  To  many  who  have  that  feeling  the 
Socialist  programme  seemed  to  offer  only  a  promise 
of  new  adventures  and  continued  strife — and  a  strife 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         243 

for  something  too  remote  and  too  negative."  We 
are  here,  obviously,  as  far  as  possible  from  the  immediate 
advent  of  the  "  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  "  by 
means  of  a  violent  "  direct  action." 


6.    THE  BOLSHEVIST  PROPAGANDA  OUTSIDE 
EUROPE. 

It  would  take  another  book  to  draw  up  a  detailed 
report  on  the  Bolshevist  propaganda  in  colonies  and 
dependencies  of  the  European  Powers  in  the  New  World, 
Asia,  Africa,  and  Australia.  To  write  such  a  book  one 
must  base  oneself  on  the  results  of  local  studies,  which 
hardly  exist  at  this  moment,  and,  at  all  events,  cannot 
be  consulted.  But  the  picture  of  the  Bolshevist  activity 
for  the  World  Revolution  would  remain  incomplete 
should  we  have  to  omit  this  chapter  at  all.  We  must 
satisfy  ourselves  with  getting  a  flying  glimpse  on  the 
unexplored  field.  A  few  lines  of  a  newspaper  telegram 
from  another  hemisphere  are  sometimes  sufficient  to 
show  us  that  the  same  things  are  happening  in  those 
remote  countries  as  are  familiar  to  us  from  our  every- 
day's  experience. 

We  already  know  that  the  Bolsheviks  paid  great 
attention  to  having  their  literature  translated  into 
every  possible  language.  From  Petrograd  and  Moscow, 
from  Stockholm  and  Copenhagen,  they  were  spreading 
their  pamphlets  and  appeals  in  every  possible  direction. 
A  correspondent  from  Copenhagen  (Morning  Post,  July 
19,  1919)  testifies  that  "  both  here  and  in  Stockholm  it 
is  possible  to  get  Bolshevist  propagandist  literature  in 
any  language,  from  the  original  Russian  to  Chinese  and 
Hindustani,  or — for  no  race  is  too  small  for  conversion — 


244   BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

to  Portuguese,  and  even  to  Malayan  and  Turkoman." 
When    the    luggage    of    the    Bolshevist    diplomats    was 
arrested  in  the  steamer  Eskiltuna  III,  it  proved  to  con- 
tain (as  the  Helsingfors  Hufvudstads  Cladet  described  it) 
leaflets  in    Hebrew,   South   Slav   dialects,    and   Kirghiz. 
The  Moscow  Pravda  then  declared  that  these  pamphlets 
were    destined    "  for    the    conversion    of    the    Western 
Imperialist    States    and    their    vassals    in    Europe    and 
Asia."      The  "  vassals,"  such  as   Ireland,  Egypt,  India, 
etc.,  were  given  particular  attention  on  the  basis  of  the 
"  self-determination  "  principle  in  its  Bolshevist  reading. 
Russian   immigrants    all    over   the    world   and    German 
machinery  were  largely  made  use  of  wherever  they  could 
present  a  point  of  support  for  the  preachers  of  the  Third 
International's    crusade.      Distinction    must    be    drawn 
between    that    wholesale    propaganda    at    random    and 
specially   chosen   territories   where   enormous   quantities 
of   publications   were   thrown   in   close   connection   with 
changing  strategical  designs  of  Bolsheviks.      To-day  it 
is  Finland,  to-morrow  Ukraine,  then  Ireland,  America, 
the  Near  or  the  Far  East,  Afghanistan,   India,   China. 
One  might  read  the  story  of  universal  schemes  of  Bol- 
shevism while  following  up  this  changing  trend  of  their 
propagandist  currents. 

Let  us  begin  our  short  review  by  the  Sinn  Fein's  con- 
tact with  the  Russian  Bolsheviks.  A  short  message, 
sent  from  Helsingfors  on  April  25th,  may  introduce  the 
subject.  "  The  Council  of  People's  Commissaries," 
the  telegram  says,  "  has  rescinded  the  vote  of 
300,000,000  roubles  for  propaganda  in  France.  In- 
stead they  have  voted  the  sum  of  500,000,000  roubles 
monthly  for  the  bureau  of  general  foreign  propaganda. 
The  first  payment  of  500,000,000  roubles,  for  the 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         245 

month  of  February,  was  sent  to  the  Sinn  Feiners  in 
Ireland.  (The  second,  for  March,  was  sent  to  the 
Spartacists  in  Germany.)1 

Far  from  me  be  the  idea  of  identifying  Sinn  Fein  with 
Bolshevism.  The  relations  between  the  two  is,  perhaps, 
in  the  best  way  characterized  by  the  correspondence 
published  in  New  York  at  the  beginning  of  June  1919, 
between  the  Bolshevist  "  Ambassador,"  Mr.  Martens, 
and  another  nonentity,  the  "  Envoy  of  the  Republic 
of  Ireland,"  Mr.  McCartan.  It  is  the  Bolshevik  who 
tries  to  prove  that  practically  there  is  no  essential 
difference  between  Sinn  Fein  and  the  Russian-Soviet 
Republicans.  Mr.  McCartan  reports  that  "the  Republic 
of  Ireland  regards  the  political  system  adopted  by  the 
free  people  in  Russia  as  a  concern  only  of  Russians." 
But  he  finally  admits  that  there  should  exist  between 
the  Irish  and  the  Russian  Extremists  "  that  sense  of 
brotherhood  which  common  purpose  can  alone  induce." 
This  is  the  very  sense  of  brotherhood  which  at  the 
time  of  preparing  the  Irish  Rebellion  of  1916  had 
existed  between  James  Connolly's  Internationalist  and 
Syndicalist  "  Citizens'  Army,"  and  the  extreme  national- 
istic body  of  the  "  Irish  Volunteers."  Both  represented 
the  forces  of  revolutionary  overthrow,  and  on  that  basis 
had  concluded  their  working  alliance. 

Bolshevism  here  stepped  into  the  shoes  of  Germans 
and  Irish-Americans,  through  whose  intermediary 
the  revolutionary  elements  of  1914-16  have  found 
and  learnt  to  know  each  other.  Their  more  con- 
genial lever  in  the  Irish  movement  was  the  Irish 
Labour  Party,  which  was  very  strongly  influenced  by 
Russian  Bolshevism,  and  which  stood  in  direct  con- 
1  See  The  Times,  April  3Oth. 


246   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

nection  with  the  leaders  of  the  Clyde  Labour  movement. 
Mr.  John  Gallagher,  on  whom  a  detailed  plan  for  an 
uprising  in  Ireland  was  found  on  October  29,  1918,  and 
who  refused  to  recognize  the  British  Court,  as  being 
composed  of  representatives  of  an  "  enemy  in 
occupation,"  reminds  us  of  William  Gallagher,  the 
President  of  the  Clyde  Workers'  Committee.  Another 
Clyde  shop  steward  and  strike  leader,  Mr.  MacManus, 
confessed  himself  to  have  been  in  closest  intimacy 
with  James  O' Connolly,  the  leader  of  the  Irish  Rebellion 
and  the  President  of  the  proclaimed  "  Irish  Republic." 
He  fully  approved  (the  Socialist,  April  I7th)  of  Con- 
nolly's guiding  principle  :  "  It  is  a  revolutionary's  duty 
to  encourage  and  to  aid  the  development  of  any  and 
every  crisis,  and  latterly  to  set  about  transforming  it 
into  a  revolutionary  situation."  This  explains  to  us  the 
part  of  revolutionary  Socialism  in  the  Irish  Nationalist 
movement.  When  at  the  General  Elections  the  Sinn 
Fein  swept  the  country  and  won  73  mandates  to  Parlia- 
ment out  of  the  whole  number  of  105,  many  of  the  active 
members  proved  to  have  been  active  participants  at 
the  Irish  Rebellion  of  1916.  No  wonder  that  at  the 
meetings  of  the  pretended  Irish  "  Parliament  "  at 
Dublin  purely  Bolshevist  speeches  were  pronounced 
and  the  Russian  Revolution  met  with  entire  approval. 
Mrs.  Markewicz,  a  Russian  and  a  turbulent  type,  who 
in  1916  had  been  O'Connolly's  fellow-leader  of  the 
"  Citizens'  Army,"  was  one  of  the  first  to  start  on  a 
propaganda  of  Russian  Bolshevism.  So  far  she  suc- 
ceeded, and  a  notable  group  within  the  Irish  Transport 
and  General  Workers'  Union  was  brought  to  regard 
Bolshevism  as  Labour's  ideal,  and  to  advocate  violent 
methods  of  action.  "  The  named  Union,"  says  Mr. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         247 

O'Brien,  the  Secretary  of  the  Irish  Labour  Party,  in  an 
American  interview,  "  since  1916  increased  its  member- 
ship from  8,000  to  80,000  ;  it  is  now  the  head  and  front 
of  the  party."  Mr.  O'Brien  asserts  that  the  whole 
party  "  is  in  close  sympathy  with  international  Labour 
all  over  the  world,  more  especially  with  the  Industrial 
Workers  of  the  World  and  kindred  unions  in  Australia 
and  on  the  Continent."  At  the  same  time  it  is  "  friendly 
with  Sinn  Fein,  whose  ideals  and  objects  are  the  same." 
Now,  the  official  organ  of  the  Irish  Transport  and 
General  Workers'  Union,  the  Voice  of  Labour,  openly 
declares  that  they  already  introduced  a  Soviet  regime 
in  Ireland.  "  We  have  organized,"  the  newspaper 
says,  "  bodies  representative  of  the  three  constituent 
elements  of  Soviets,  namely,  workers,  soldiers,  and 
peasants.  ...  At  present  we  have  what  corresponds  to 
Workers'  Councils  in  most  towns  .  .  .  and  in  nearly 
every  country  we  have  Peasants'  Councils  in  some  form 
or  other,  and  all  these  are  linked  up  in  a  kind  of  loose 
federation." 

Revolutionary  aims  and  methods  of  Sinn  Fein, 
especially  of  its  "  physical  force  "  group,  have  become 
so  obvious,  and  the  reminiscences  of  1916  are  as  yet  so 
fresh,  that  there  was  ample  ground  for  Government 
action.  On  September  I2th  a  proclamation  was  issued 
by  the  Lord-Lieutenant  in  Ireland  prohibiting  and 
suppressing  the  Sinn  Fein  "  Parliament  "  (the  Dail 
Eireann),  the  Sinn  Fein  organizations,  clubs,  the  Irish 
Volunteers,  etc.  At  the  same  time  a  series  of  raids  were 
carried  out  by  the  police  and  military  force  in  Sinn 
Fein  premises,  newspaper  offices  and  residences,  both 
in  Dublin  and  in  provinces.  Many  documents  were 
seized  and  numerous  arrests  made.  The  next  day  the 


248    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Trades  Union  Congress  at  Glasgow  expressed  "  its  pro- 
found sympathy  with  our  Irish  brethren  in  their  hours 
of  repression."  In  face  of  this  conflict  between  official 
prosecution  and  extremist  opinion  the  leaders  of  the 
Sinn  Fein  remain  self-confident.  It  would  be  prema- 
ture to  say  what  will  be  the  upshot  of  the  conflict,  but 
one  is  fully  entitled  to  bring  the  acute  state  of  things 
in  Ireland  now  obtaining  under  the  same  head  with 
other  phenomena  of  post-war  unrest,  fostered  and 
promoted,  among  other  causes,  by  direct  Bolshevist 
influences. 

We  now  pass  to  another  instance  of  the  extremist 
application  of  the  self-determination  principle — India. 
Here,  as  well  as  in  Ireland,  the  extremist  propaganda  for 
independence  tried  to  make  any  moderate  reform  im- 
possible. Here  also,  as  well  as  there,  evidence  is  handy 
to  prove  the  existence  of  an  external  organization  trying 
to  work  through  the  Indian  extremists  by  using  violent 
methods  of  action.  We  can  even  surmise,  with  a  great 
degree  of  certainty,  that  in  India,  as  in  Ireland,  this 
organization  was  working  for  a  certain  time,  and  that 
here,  as  well  as  there,  Russian  Bolsheviks  only  stepped 
into  the  shoes  of  Germans.  The  specifically  Russian  work 
of  propaganda  was  being  done  through  the  channel  of 
Moslem  and  Pan-Turkish  movement,  and  signs  of  it  are 
obvious  in  the  part  played  by  the  Indian  Moslem 
elements  in  the  April  rioting  at  the  Punjab.  Mohamme- 
dans have  been  foremost  in  the  work  of  riot  and  destruc- 
tion in  Ahmedabad  and  Delhi.  The  scheme  for  an 
Indian  revolution  included,  as  well  as  that  for  a  revolu- 
tion in  Ireland,  as  a  first  step,  systematic  attacks  on 
railways,  telegraphs,  and  other  means  of  communica- 
tion, and  all  these  attacks  have  been  tried  in  Northern 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         249 

India.1  The  chief  motive  for  incitement  to  trouble 
was  that  stated  by  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India,  Mr. 
Montagu,  in  the  course  of  the  debate  at  the  Commons 
on  May  22,  1919  :  "I  put  first  among  the  political 
causes  (of  disturbance)  the  perturbation  and  per- 
plexity caused  to  the  Mohammedan  world  by  the 
discussion  arising  out  of  the  defeat  of  Turkey." 

So  far  as  Germany  is  concerned,  we  have,  besides 
voluminous  evidence  collected  in  Justice  Rowlatt's 
Report  and  Sir  Valentine  Chirrol's  collection,  Mrs. 
Annie  Besant's  recent  testimony  (The  Times,  June  10, 
1919)  that  "  the  revolutionary  party  in  India  was 
supported  largely  by  German  money,  which  had  been 
used  for  many  years  in  the  effort  to  cause  unrest.  Even 
before  the  war  money  had  been  spent  freely  on  German 
propaganda  work,  which  was  carried  largely  by  German 
missionaries  who  taught  children  to  '  call  for  the 
German  Kaiser  '  instead  of  for  our  own  King-Emperor. 
The  first  results,"  Mrs.  Besant  adds,  "  of  German  pro- 
paganda were  the  revolutionary  movement  in  the  Punjab 
and  Bengal."  The  Times  correspondent  from  Lahore 
(April  25th)  is  also  induced  to  conclude  that  German 
agents  are  behind  the  movement  by  the  fact  "  that 
the  outbreaks  coincide  with  the  stiffening  of  Germany 
on  the  peace  terms,  and  follow  closely  on  the  Egyptian 
outbreak."  This  may  seem  too  far-fetched,  as  the 
cause  of  simultaneity  of  these  outbreaks  may  also  lie 
in  the  general  state  of  unrest  after  the  war.  However 

1  The  Morning  Post  correspondent  on  April  3oth  suggested 
that  the  aim  of  breaking  up  the  railway  system  was  "  to  cut 
out  an  enclave  in  the  centre  of  the  Punjab,  consisting  of  the 
three  districts  of  Lahore,  Amritsar,  and  Gujranwala,  wherein, 
securely  separated  from  the  outer  world,  they  would  be  free 
to  pursue  their  work. 


250   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

it  be,  the  part  of  the  Bolsheviks  in  the  Indian  trouble 
is  even  more  obvious  than  the  part  of  the  Germans. 

On  March  20th  The  Times  special  correspondent  at 
Helsingfors  described  the  contents  of  a  letter  addressed 
by  the  Bolshevist  representative  at  Stockholm,  Vorov- 
sky,  shortly  before  his  expulsion,  to  the  Extraordinary 
Commission  in  Petrograd.  This  letter,  which  the 
correspondent  had  himself  seen,  and  which  was  in  posses- 
sion of  a  British  subject,  alleged  that  during  1918  the 
Bolshevist  representatives  in  Stockholm  succeeded  in 
sending  to  Bombay,  via  London,  £25,000  and  explosives. 
Bolshevist  agents  in  India  frequently  assured  the 
Stockholm  representatives  that  a  Bolshevist  movement 
would  certainly  break  out  in  India  in  March  or  April 
(which  really  took  place).  The  Pravda,  the  Soviet's 
official  organ,  has  declared  that  during  the  first  ten  months 
of  1918  the  Bureau  of  Mussulman  Communist  Organiza- 
tions published  4,000,000  copies  of  news-sheets,  pam- 
phlets, and  handbills  in  the  Tartar,  Turkish,  Kirghiz, 
Sart,  and  Hindu  languages.  A  special  organization 
was  formed  in  Moscow  to  operate  in  India,  Persia, 
China,  Japan,  and  other  Eastern  countries.  The  names 
of  organizers  of  different  branches  of  the  Eastern  propa- 
ganda were  :  Mr.  S.  D.  Mstislavsky  for  India,  T.  S. 
Bravine  for  Persia,  Mr.  Yussupov  for  revolutionary 
Islamism  in  general,  Subchi  Bey  for  Turkey.  This  is 
"  the  real  Russian  peril  "  which  Mr.  John  Pollock  made 
subject  of  a  special  article  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 
Concerning  India  in  particular,  a  Bolshevist  cor- 
respondence has  been  revealed  between  Petrograd 
and  Delhi  as  early  as  February  1919.  The  Times 
correspondent  on  August  2nd  wired  from  Helsingfors 
that  an  original  letter  came  into  his  possession — and 


/  OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         251 

is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  British  Foreign  Office — which 
proves  the  complicity  of  the  Bolshevist  Government 
at  Petrograd  with  Indian  revolutionaries.  As  a  sequel 
to  some  murders  of  Russian  subjects  at  Stockholm,  the 
very  personality  of  the  Bolshevist  agent  was  discovered 
in  August  1919.  It  was  a  certain  Bek  Hadji  Tlashee, 
a  Mohammedan  from  the  Caucasus  and  an  adventurer 
of  the  vilest  type,  ready  to  serve  everybody  for  money. 
In  the  letter  mentioned  above,  and  published  in  The 
Times  on  August  29,  1919,  this  gentleman  discloses 
that  he  "  must  receive  money  from  India,"  and  that  he 
"  only  to-day  received  in  Stockholm  a  wire  from  Bom- 
bay that  his  previous  telegrams  have  reached  Delhi 
by  post."  The  money  he  wants — 24,000  krons — was 
assigned  (by  the  Extraordinary  Commission  at  2, 
Gorokhovaya)  in  payment  for  the  machines,  the  rest 
for  publishing  purposes.  A  certain  "  Michael  Yakovle- 
vich  intended  to  go  back  to  India  with  machines,"  which 
were  ready.  This  news  may  be  confronted  with  official 
telegrams  from  India  during  the  time  of  the  April 
uprising.  "  The  Arya  Samaj  and  Mohammedan  emis- 
saries from  Delhi,"  we  are  told  (Morning  Post,  April  2ist), 
"  are  making  attempts  to  stir  up  trouble  in  neighbour- 
ing districts  of  the  Punjab.  In  Bombay  arrests  have 
been  made  of  two  agitators  who  were  distributing 
inflammatory  leaflets."  The  Viceroy's  report  from 
April  igth  states  that  "  the  city  mobs  (Punjab)  are 
reported  to  be  generally  composed  of  Mohammedan 
Groudas  (hooligans)  directed  by  Pan-Islamic  and  Hindu 
agitators." 

In  the  article  mentioned  Mr.  John  Pollock  warns  the 
English  people  that  a  great  anti-British  offensive  is  to 
be  delivered  on  the  Indian  front.  And,  indeed,  the 


252    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

organization  disclosed  by  The  Times  correspondent  in 
Helsingfors  on  March  3ist  (see  above)  means  an  offen- 
sive on  a  large  scale.  As  early  as  the  beginning  of  1919 
the  intention  becomes  manifest  to  keep  the  road  to 
India  open  for  Moscow.  Branch  offices  of  propaganda 
are  being  opened  all  along  the  way.  One  has  already 
been  started  at  Orenburg.  Agitators  are  preparing 
to  go  to  Tashkent.  Later  on  in  the  year  Merv  was 
captured  by  the  Bolshevists,  and  their  forces  proceeded 
to  Kushk,  where  they  were  at  the  very  door  of  Herat, 
the  key  to  Western  Afghanistan.  It  was  at  that  moment, 
on  May  gth,  that  the  new  Afghan  Ameer,  Amanullah 
Khan,  the  third  son  of  the  late  Habibulla,  Britain's 
faithful  ally,  started  on  war  with  England  and  passed 
the  Indian  frontier.  Turkish  nationalist  influences 
may,  to  a  great  extent,  explain  the  Ameer's  move  ;  but 
both  the  German  and  Bolshevist  hand  behind  the 
Turkish  Pan-Islamic  propaganda  can  be  easily  guessed. 
The  Bolsheviks  were  keen  enough  to  see  their  chance, 
and  from  that  moment  of  the  Ameer's  open  hostilities 
against  Great  Britain  they  drew  particular  attention  to 
Afghanistan.  Towards  the  end  of  August  a  Bolshevist 
mission  under  M.  Bravin,  the  before-mentioned  diplo- 
matist formerly  of  the  Russian  Legation  at  Teheran, 
and  afterwards  Russian  Vice-Consul  in  Seistan,  a  good 
expert  in  the  Near-Eastern  questions,  arrived  at  Cabul 
on  a  special  mission  from  Lenin.  M.  Bravin  had  an 
audience  of  the  Ameer,  whose  reception  of  him,  accord- 
ing to  The  Times,  is  described  as  "  courteous,  but  cool." 
Since  then  M.  Bravin  has  been  in  continuous  commu- 
nication with  Moscow  through  Tashkent,  which  has 
become  the  headquarters  of  Bolshevist  propaganda  in 
Central  Asia  under  a  certain  M.  Suritz.  The  results 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION        253 

were  not  late  to  appear.  On  May  6th  the  Bolshevist 
official  newspaper,  Izvestia,  published  an  interview  with 
the  Hindoo  professor,  Baranatulla,  who  had  just  come 
to  Moscow  at  the  head  of  the  Afghan  Mission.  "  I  am 
neither  a  Communist  nor  a  Socialist,"  was  Mr.  Barana- 
tulla's  sincere  avowal,  "  but  my  political  programme 
entails  the  expulsion  of  the  British  from  Asia.  I  am 
an  implacable  foe  of  the  European  capitalization  of 
Asia,  the  principal  representatives  of  which  are  the 
British.  In  this  I  approximate  to  the  Communists, 
and  in  this  respect  we  are  natural  comrades.  The 
ideas  of  the  Bolsheviks,  whom  we  call  the  '  Intrakion,' 
have  already  been  absorbed  by  the  masses  of  India, 
and  a  small  spark  of  active  propaganda  is  enough  to 
set  all  Central  Asia  ablaze  with  revolution.  ...  In  the 
normal  course  of  events  it  may  be  expected  that  this 
summer  will  prove  decisive  in  the  liberation  of  India."  1 

1  The  precedents  of  the  "  renowned  Indian  Professor," 
Mayavlevi  Mohammed  Baranatulla,  advertised  by  the  Soviet 
Press,  are  very  interesting.  As  early  as  1915  he  was  sent  by 
the  Germans  to  Afghanistan  in  company  with  the  Turkish 
officer  Mohammed  Kazym  Beg  and  the  German  officer  Wagner. 
They  had  their  headquarters  in  the  Punjab  and  Afghanistan, 
and  extended  their  propaganda  far  beyond  the  limits  of  these 
countries,  disposing  of  very  large  sums  of  money  and  utilizing 
their  network  of  conspirative  connections.  The  result  of  this 
propaganda  appeared  already  in  1916,  in  the  form  of  an  uprising 
in  Turkestan.  Beginning  with  1917,  these  very  "  Afghans " 
were  furnishing  arms  to  Kirghiz,  Turkmen,  and  Young  Sarts, 
thus  preparing  a  revolt  against  Russia.  In  the  spring  of  1918, 
according  to  instructions  from  Berlin,  the  Soviet  Government 
arranged  for  a  solemn  reception  of  the  representatives  of  the 
Mohammedan  population  in  India,  proclaimed  themselves 
protectors  of  the  Islam  all  over  the  world,  and  began  spreading 
appeals  "  to  all  toiling  Moslems  of  Russia  and  the  East."  The 
Soviet  of  Turkestan  nominated  the  Turkish  captain  Kadem- 
Beg  commander-in-chief  of  the  Soviet  Front  of  the  Western 
Turkestan,  and  the  "  Indian  Professor "  Baranatulla  and 
Kadem-Beg  signed  the  Soviet  appeal  "  To  all  Moslems  of  Asia." 


254   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Two  days  later  (May  8th)  the  Izvestia  gave  an  account 
of  another  interview  with  the  Russian  specialist  on 
Asiatic  affairs,  a  professional  young  diplomatist  who  has 
gone  over  to  the  Bolsheviks,  Mr.  Voznessensky,  manager 
of  the  Eastern  section  of  the  Commissariat  for  Foreign 
Affairs.  According  to  him,  Mr.  Baranatulla  was  not 
yet  an  official  representative  of  Afghanistan,  but  he  was 
the  personal  friend  of  the  new  Ameer,  and  his  arrival 
foreshadowed  the  coming  official  negotiations.  "  We 
of  course  recognize  the  independence  of  Afghanistan," 
Mr.  Voznessensky  said,  "  and  we  will  enter  into  diplo- 
matic negotiations  with  Baranatulla  as  soon  as  we  hear 
officially  from  the  Afghan  Government.  Afghanistan 
is  of  primary  importance  for  the  propaganda  in 
Asia.  Ethnographically,  Afghanistan  is  closely  con- 
nected with  India,  and  as  an  independent  country, 
united  by  a  common  religion,  has  an  enormous  influence 
on  the  seventy  millions  of  Mussulmans  in  India.  Any 
movement  in  Afghanistan  has  always  found  a  lively 
echo  in  India."  Furthermore,  the  Soviet  diplomatist 
spoke  of  the  German-Turkish  plots  in  Afghanistan 
during  the  war,  and  wound  up  by  saying  that  now 
Afghanistan  cannot  look  for  help  either  from  Germany 
or  Turkey,  and  therefore  Amanullah  Khan  is  naturally 
looking  to  (Bolshevist)  Russia  for  assistance. 

A  few  days  after  these  interviews  had  been 
published  the  Afghan  troops  were  defeated  at 
Dakka  (May  i6th-i8th),  and  less  than  a  month 
after  the  opening  of  hostilities  Amanullah  was 
asking  Great  Britain  for  peace.  Already,  at  an 
earlier  date,  he  ordered  his  local  governors  at  Jelala- 
bad  and  elsewhere  to  discountenance  any  attempt 
by  Afghan  subjects  to  interest  themselves,  directly  or 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         255 

indirectly,  in  the  riotings  in  the  Punjab.  He  has 
forbidden  the  issue  of  passports  to  agitators  and  any 
persons  concerned  in  the  Indian  risings.  But  it  did 
not  prevent  the  Afghan  Government  from  entering  into 
negotiations  with  the  Bolshevist  Government  in  Moscow. 
The  People's  Commissariat  for  Foreign  Affairs  in  the 
beginning  of  August  addressed  a  Note  to  the  Afghan 
Foreign  Minister,  stating  that  the  Soviet  Government, 
having  cancelled  all  secret  treaties  concluded  for  the 
enslavement  of  small  nationalities,  thus  returned  to 
Persia  and  other  Eastern  peoples  all  that  was  taken 
from  them  by  the  Russian  Tsars.  "  The  successes  of 
our  troops  in  the  East,"  the  wireless  went  on  saying, 
"  hold  out  the  promise  that  we  shall  soon  join  forces 
with  the  Siberian  revolution.  Despite  all  difficulties, 
we  can  safely  say  that  victory  will  be  ours,  not  only  in 
Russia,  but  on  an  international  scale." 

This  has  been  written  after  the  retreat  of  Kolchak, 
when  the  hopes  of  the  Bolsheviks  ran  high.  But  the 
leading  men  knew  already  at  that  time  that  their  days 
were  numbered,  and  that  Bolshevism  in  Russia  is 
doomed  to  failure.  That  is  why  their  schemes  for  the 
conquest  of  Asia  began  to  acquire  another  meaning 
for  them.  In  case  of  a  final  defeat  in  Europe  and  Russia 
they  decided  to  transfer  the  centre  of  their  world's  pro- 
paganda to  Asia.  They  thought  for  a  time  of  China. 
It  was  easy  for  them  to  extend  their  propaganda  to 
China  through  the  intermediary  of  Chinese  working  men 
in  Russia.  A  special  revolutionary  organization  had 
been  started  for  that  purpose  very  early  in  Moscow. 
Later  on  the  Bolshevist  organ  in  Petrograd,  the  Njrthern 
Commune  (Sievernaya  Communa)  published  news  that 
"  the  number  of  Chinese  proletarians  is  growing  in 


25C    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Soviet  Russia.  According  to  the  recent  registration 
made  by  the  Asiatic  Department  of  the  Commissary  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  the  number  of  Chinese  at  present 
exceed  half  a  million  (?)."  The  paper  asserted  that 
many  of  them  were  confirmed  Bolsheviks,  who  were  in 
close  contact  with  the  Labour  and  Socialist  organi- 
zations in  China.  Bolshevist  agents  disposing  of  large 
sums  of  money,  the  newspaper  said,  are  to  be  found 
on  the  frontiers,  recruiting  Chinese  for  service  in 
Soviet  Russia. 

What  kind  of  Chinamen  were  thus  recruited  can  be 
seen  from  a  witness  by  Mr.  Djin-Yun-Huy,  a  special 
envoy  of  the  Chinese  colony  at  Moscow  to  General 
Denikin  and  to  the  representatives  of  the  Allied  Powers 
at  Odessa.  Mr.  Djin-Yun-Huy  declares  that  the  Chinese 
recruits  are  mostly  "  Chunchuses "  (Chinese  bandits) 
and  the  most  ignorant  elements  of  the  Chinese  popula- 
tion. At  the  head  of  the  Executive  Committee,  organized 
and  paid  by  the  Bolsheviks,  is  a  convict  escaped  from 
hard  labour.  The  Chinese  serving  in  the  Red  Army, 
Mr.  Djin-Yun-Huy  asserts,  are  conscripted  and  retained 
by  force.  The  Danish  Red  Cross  tried  to  repatriate 
the  Chinese  workmen,  but  the  attempt  failed  owing  to 
the  obstacles  put  by  the  Bolshevik  authorities. 

The  Bolsheviks  have  also  made  an  attempt  with  the 
Koreans.  The  Bolshevist  newspaper  Krasny  Nabat 
(the  Red  Tocsin]  recently  published  a  proclamation 
addressed  to  the  revolutionary  organizations  of  the 
Korean  people.  The  proclamation  informs  the  Koreans 
that  a  "  Korean  National  Union  "  has  been  formed  at 
Moscow,  "  whose  aim  is  to  provoke  a  revolution  in 
Korea  and  to  give  back  to  this  country  its  independence.' 
The  Bolsheviks  promise  that  the  Korean  regiments 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         257 

formed  in  Moscow  will  come  to  the  aid  of  this  revolution. 
"  The  Korean  workmen  resident  at  Moscow  have  ad- 
hered to  the  Third  International."  "  At  the  time 
when  the  Red  Army  and  the  Koreans  will  fight  the 
Japanese  on  the  Urals,  Korea  must  rise  and  communi- 
cate with  the  Government  of  the  working  men  and  the 
peasants.  It  is  only  in  that  way  that  we  shall  succeed, 
having  united  our  forces,  to  expel  the  Japanese  from 
Vladivostok  and  from  Korea.  The  hour  of  liberation 
is  drawing  nigh.  Koreans,  make  the  supreme  effort." 
One  may  be  sure  that  this  proclamation,  whatever  its 
result,  has  reached  its  destination. 

But  the  greatest  hopes  of  the  Bolsheviks,  particu- 
larly after  Kolchak  had  stopped  his  retreat  and  "  the 
promise  to  join  forces  with  the  Siberian  revolution  " 
proved  unrealizable,  were  still  based  on  India  and 
Afghanistan.  With  the  obvious  aim  of  preparing  for 
themselves  a  solid  basis  of  retreat  through  Russian 
Turkestan,  they  concentrated  about  100,000  Red  troops 
in  that  region,  while  at  the  same  time  guarding  the  access 
to  Tashkent  from  Orenburg  by  the  railway  line.  At  the 
moment  of  writing  these  lines  (mid-October)  40,000 
of  these  troops  were  defeated  by  General  Annenkov 
in  Eastern  Turkestan.  WTiether  the  other  60,000 
will  surrender  at  Tashkent,  whether  the  corridor  to 
Orenburg  will  be  kept  open  long  enough  for  the  totter- 
ing power  of  the  Bolsheviks  in  Moscow  to  use  that 
passage,  or  it  will  be  shut  up  by  the  Orenburg  and  Uralsk 
Cossacks,  thus  cutting  the  only  line  of  retreat,  remains 
to  be  seen.  Meantime  the  negotiations  with  the 
Afghan  Government  wound  up  with  the  despatch  of  an 
Ambassador  to  Moscow.  On  October  loth  the  Afghan 
Embassy  was  met  by  a  large  deputation,  and  the 

17 


258    BOLSHEVISM  :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Director    of    the  Mussulman  Near   East    Department, 
"  comrade "    Narimanov,    greeted    them    in    Turkish. 
He    said  he   "  purposely    used   the    Turkish    language 
in    the    Red    Capital    in     order    to    prove    that   the 
Workers'      and      Peasants'      Government     treats     all 
peoples  and  languages  with  sincere  respect."     Another 
member     of     the     deputation,     "  comrade "      Sultan 
Calico,    who     spoke    in    the    name    of    the    Revolu- 
tionary  Council  of  the  Republic,  said  :    "  Your  heroic 
country  is    fighting    for    its    emancipation   from    the 
age-long  oppressors  of  the  East,  British   Imperialism. 
We  know  that  you  need  help  and  support,  and  that  you 
expect  this  support  from  Soviet  Russia.      In  the  name 
...  of  the  revolutionary  organizations  of   the  many 
millions  of  the  Mohammedan  labouring  masses  of  Soviet 
Russia,  I  declare  to  you  that  Soviet  Russia  will  give 
you  that  assistance,  as  she  herself  is  fighting  against 
international   Imperialism."     To  which   the   Ambassa- 
dor,   Mohamed    Vali     Khan,     answered :    "  We   know 
that  the  Mussulman  peoples  of  Russia  are  now  free, 
and   we    strongly  hope    that,   with   the  assistance  of 
Soviet    Russia,    we     shall    succeed     in    emancipating 
Afghanistan  and  the  rest  of  the  East." 

The  measures  for  the  Bolshevist  "  emancipation " 
of  the  East  are  already  being  taken  in  close  proximity 
to  Afghanistan.  "  News  from  Tashkent,"  The  Times 
states,  "  shows  that  the  Bolshevists  there,  acting  upon 
instructions  from  Moscow,  have  instituted  on  a  large 
scale  classes  for  instruction  in  Bolshevist  propaganda, 
for  the  purpose  of  training  emissaries  to  go  to  India 
and  Afghanistan.  These  classes  are  conducted  in  the 
Pushtu,  Hindustani,  and  other  Eastern  languages, 
and  are  publicly  advertised  in  the  Tashkent  papers." 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         259 

The  same  methods  are  thus  being  now  used  to 
"  bolshevize "  the  East  as  had  proved  efficient  to 
"  bolshevize  "  Russia.  Propaganda  on  the  largest  scale 
by  trained  propagandists  was  and  remains  not  only  a 
secondary  feature  of  the  Bolshevist  domination,  but  the 
chief  aim  and  the  most  important  application  of  their 
temporary  power,  which  justifies  in  their  own  eyes 
their  "  dictatorship,"  as  a  stepping-stone  to  something 
greater  and  more  lasting  to  come. 

So  far,  we  cannot  ascertain  any  direct  influence  of 
the  Bolshevist  propaganda  on  the  Egyptian  unrest. 
Apparently  there  is  none.  But  taking  it  as  a  part  of 
the  movement  rife  throughout  the  Mohammedan  world, 
we  shall  here  find  the  same  medium  favourable  for  the 
extreme  Nationalist  movement,  and  the  same  agents 
active  in  spreading  the  movement  as  are  known  to  us 
in  Turkey  and  in  the  Near  East.  The  especially  Egyp- 
tian motive  for  unrest,  the  proclamation  of  the  British 
Protectorate  on  December  18,  1917,  of  course,  counts 
for  very  much  in  the  March  and  April  uprisings,  as 
well  as  the  desire  "  to  make  the  voice  of  Egypt  heard 
at  the  Peace  Conference,"  steering  for  independence. 
But  there  is  hardly  any  doubt  that  some  plan  of  using 
the  nationalistic  catch- word  of  "  Egypt  for  the  Egyp- 
tians," as  well  as  the  mistakes,  acknowledged  since, 
of  the  British  Administration,  had  been  conceived  in 
advance,  a  long  time  before  the  actual  trouble  began. 
We  know  already  that  in  its  origin  this  plan  was 
German.  I  do  not  know  what  were  its  further  develop- 
ments, but  there  are  some  features  in  the  movement 
(e.g.  the  sabotage  on  the  railways  on  the  most  extensive 
scale)  which  are  known  to  us  from  revolutionary 
attempts,  both  in  Ireland  and  in  India.,  I  also  find  that 


260    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

a  communique  from  Cairo,  dated  April  ist  (The  Times, 
April  2ist),  says  that  the  chief  agents  of  the  outbreak 
were  the  same  as  had  undergone  the  initial  German 
influence.  "  Some  of  the  most  violent  attacks  have 
been  led  by  the  students  and  the  Azharites.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  know  to  what  extent  foreign,  possibly 
German,  influence  and  money  still  prevail  at  Al  Azhar 
University,  for  it  is  well  known  that  the  Germans  long 
before  the  war  intrigued  deeply  with  the  Bedouin  and  the 
Azharites,  the  groundwork  being  done  by  the  notorious 
Baron  von  Oppenheim,  and  that  the  German  plan 
for  disorganizing  Egypt  during  the  war  included  the 
active  participation,  not  only  of  the  Bedouin,  but  also 
of  the  Al  Azhar,  where  they  had  many  emissaries." 
The  same  correspondent  wrote  on  April  igth  (The  Times, 
April  22nd)  :  "  The  agitators  in  the  provinces  are,  it  is 
true,  some  out-of-work  lawyers  and  effendis,  but  the 
main  source  of  their  inspiration  is  the  clique  of  officials, 
lawyers,  students,  and  Azharites  (connected  with  the 
Al  Azhar  University) ,  who  are  directing  the  strike  move- 
ment in  Cairo."  But  here  the  traces  are  getting  lost, 
and  the  author  of  the  series  of  articles  published  by 
The  Times  in  September  recognizes  that  "  there 
appears  to  be  no  serious  evidence  of  any  foreign 
propaganda  or  any  organization  linking  up  the 
movement  with  other  countries." 

Quite  unexpectedly,  we  meet  with  the  genuine  Bol- 
shevik propaganda  at  the  other  extremity  of  Africa, 
Johannesburg  and  Capetown.  Two  Russians  came  to 
Durban  via  Mesopotamia,  with  passports  furnished 
by  the  British  military  authorities  on  the  strength 
of  professed  pro-Ally  sympathies.  Nobody  knew  here 
Mr.  Lapinsky  (an  extremist  "  Menshevik "  member 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         261 

of  the  Kienthal  Conference)  and  Mr.  Sosnovik.  Their 
lectures,  delivered  in  Russian  before  compatriot 
colonists,  did  not  at  once  disclose  their  political  inten- 
tions, but  subsequent  speeches  in  English  revealed  them 
to  be  Bolshevik  propagandists.  Resolutions  were  passed 
by  the  meetings  arranged  by  them,  protesting  against 
Allied  efforts  to  strangle  workers'  revolutions  in  Russia, 
Germany,  Austria,  and  other  countries.  This  was  a 
regular  "  hands-off-Soviet  Republic  "  propaganda.  Both 
gentlemen  were  asked  by  the  police  to  leave  first 
Johannesburg  and  then  Capetown.  A  small  crowd  of 
revolutionary  Socialists  gathered  at  the  docks  to  see 
them  off  (they  sailed  from  Mosambique  to  Lisbon).  A 
meeting  was  held  on  the  quay,  and  Mr.  Lapinsky 
definitely  threw  off  the  mask  :  he  declared  that  the 
Russian  Bolsheviks  were  the  advance  guard  of  the 
World  Revolution,  and  confidently  predicted  that 
he  would  return  to  Africa  and  meet  his  local  admirers 
in  very  different  circumstances.  On  the  occa- 
sion of  a  previous  strike  in  Johannesburg  several 
speakers  at  mass  meetings  frankly  declared  that  the 
movement  was  not  a  mere  strike,  but  an  attempt 
at  revolution.  Finally,  the  Government  decided  to 
introduce  a  Bill  for  alien  registration  empowering 
the  Government  to  deport  any  persons  joining  any 
association  for  the  subversion  of  the  Constitution  or 
associating  themselves  with  propaganda  aiming  *r  at 
the  subversion  of  law  and  order.  The  Bill  was  mainly 
directed  against  Bolshevik  propaganda  on  the  Rand.1 

A  turbulent  demonstration  in  Brisbane  on  March  23rd 
disclosed  to  the  world  the  existence  of  a  nucleus  for 

1  See  The  Times,  April  3rd,  May  22nd ;  Daily  Telegraph,  April 
22nd ;  correspondence  from  Capetown. 


262    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Bolshevist  propaganda  in  Australia.  A  large  crowd, 
chiefly  composed  of  Russians,  went  in  procession  through 
the  streets,  rioting  and  overpowering  the  police.  Red 
flags  and  other  Bolshevik  emblems  were  displayed  and 
the  "  Internationale "  sung.  The  mounted  troopers 
were  violently  attacked  by  Russians  armed  with  long 
poles  and  other  weapons,  who  shouted  :  "  This  is  the 
start  of  the  revolution."  Finally  they  entrenched 
themselves  at  the  Russians'  headquarters,  where  they 
were  attacked  by  the  returned  soldiers  and  dispersed. 
The  inquiry  has  revealed  that  there  is  a  considerable 
Russian  element  among  the  waterside  workers  of  all 
the  States.  According  to  a  Times  correspondent  from 
Sydney  (April  3rd),  a  secret  society  was  conducting 
Bolshevist  propaganda.  The  organization  consisted 
of  small  groups  of  members  who  went  by  assumed 
names.  They  were  proselytizing  by  means  of  unsigned, 
typewritten  literature,  which  urged  the  permeation  of 
labour  leagues  with  revolutionary  Socialism.  Some 
leaders,  arrested  after  the  demonstration  of  March  23rd, 
made  statements  in  court  in  defence  of  Bolshevism.  A 
certain  Simonov  even  claimed  officially  the  right  to 
represent  the  Soviet  Government  in  Australia.  He  was 
refused  recognition.  The  March  outbreak  was  easily 
stifled,  but  already  in  May  we  see  the  results  of  the 
Bolshevist  propaganda  among  the  working  men.  A 
wave  of  industrial  unrest  threatened  to  submerge 
Australia.  There  was  a  series  of  strikes  in  almost 
every  section  of  Labour  owing  to  the  increased  cost  of 
food.  The  miners  three  times  demanded  increase  of 
wages.  The  Victorian  Railways  Union  passed  a  re- 
solution in  favour  of  Russian  Sovietism  (The  Times, 
May  1 3th) 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         263 

In  America  the  ground  for  Bolshevism  proved  to  be 
much  more  favourable  than  either  Africa  or  Australia. 
This  is  chiefly  due  to  two  causes  :  the  far  greater  number 
of  Russian  immigrants  and  incomparably  greater  in- 
dustrial development.  The  first  motive  prevailed  in 
Canada,  the  second  in  the  United  States. 

Of  course,  America  entered  into  the  general  scheme  of 
the  Bolshevist  propaganda.  The  proofs  are  ample,  but 
in  order  to  quote  first  hand  evidence,  I  may  refer  to  a 
conversation  with  Lenin  by  Mr.  Albert  Rhys  Williams, 
an  American  correspondent  and  "  an  authorized 
messenger  from  Lenin  and  the  Soviet  Government," 
as  the  Socialist  leaflet  quoted  styles  him.1  "  I  saw 
Lenin  the  day  I  went  away.  At  that  particular  time 
the  Americans  were  playing  in  very  good  there,  and 
America  stood  high  with  the  Bolsheviks.  They  were 
ready  to  make  many  concessions  to  Americans.  So  they 
allowed  me  to  collect  a  lot  of  literature  to  take  to 
America,  and  they  also  prepared  a  moving  picture  reel, 
showing  the  creative  and  artistic  side  of  the  Socialist 
Revolution,  and  they  printed  these  in  English  ;  they 
spent  hundreds  of  thousands  of  roubles  on  these  reels 
to  show  America.  ...  Of  course,  they  were  never 
allowed  to  come  over.  Lenin  knew  it  would  happen. 
He  said  :  '  I  am  afraid  they  won't  allow  this  literature 
to  get  into  America.  It  is  pretty  bad  literature 
really.'  " 

Lenin  was  right  so  far  that  in  Canada  severe  measures 
were  taken  against  the  spread  of  Bolshevist  literature. 


1  Questions  and  Answers  about  Russia,  an  Extract  from  a 
Verbatim  Report  of  a  Conversation  with  A.  R.  W.  reprinted  from 
The  Liberator  by  the  Worker's  Socialist  Federation,  400,  Old  Ford 
Road,  E.  3.  Mr.  Williams  left  Russia  in  autumn,  1918. 


264    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Some  people,  like  William  Watson  or  Harry  Chesseman, 
were  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  having  seditious 
literature   in   their   possession     as    early    as     January 
1919.     The   last    sentence   provoked   a    demonstration 
in  Toronto  of  1,200  sympathizers,  which  proved  that 
the  Bolshevist  element  was    already  strong  enough  in 
that  city.     They  were  chiefly  "  aliens,"  and  they  used 
every  opportunity  of  speaking  at  the  meetings  to  glorify 
the   results   of   Bolshevism   in    Russia,    to   attack   the 
Orders  in  Council  which  prohibited  meetings  of  Social 
Democrats  and  the  circulation  of  seditious  literature 
during  the  war.     They  alleged  that  these  were  the  signs 
of  their  being  "  a  great  capitalist  conspiracy  to  conceal 
the    true    situation."     This    produced    a    very    strong 
feeling  against  aliens  on  the  part  of  the  war  veterans 
returning  to  Canada  from  the  Front.     They  displayed 
an  equally  resolute  temper,  and  conflicts  between  the 
soldiers  and  the  foreign  elements  leading  the  extreme 
group    of   the    Labour    opinion    became    an    everyday 
occurrence  in  Canada.     The  alien  influence  was  particu- 
larly strong  in  the  West,  owing  to  the  composition  of 
the  local  population.     When  the  war  broke  out  there 
were   25,000  Germans  and  Austrians  in  the   Western 
Provinces,  besides  many  thousands  of  Swedes,  Russians, 
and  other  European  nationalities.      In   Saskatchewan 
60  per  cent,  of  population  are  foreign-born  and  illiterate. 
In  the  prairie   Provinces  there  were  102,435  persons  of 
foreign  birth  over  ten  years  of  age  who  cannot  speak 
English.     In  the  Winnipeg   district  there  were  27,000 
registered  alien  enemies.     Many  of  the  aliens  belonged 
to  the  Labour  Unions.     These  foreign  elements  proved 
to  be  a  particularly  docile  element  for  the  fomenters 
of  trouble.     The  chief  leaders  were  also  aliens  having 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         265 

come  from  Northern  England  and  Scotland,  of  the  same 
extreme  "  pacifist  "  type  known  to  us,  and  some  Rus- 
sians. The  names  of  the  "  Red  Five  "  of  Canada  are 
R.  T.  Jones,  of  Winnipeg  ;  W.  A.  Pritchard,  of  Van- 
couver ;  Joseph  Knight,  of  Edmonton  ;  V.  R.  Midgley, 
of  Vancouver ;  and  Joseph  Maylor,  of  Cumberland. 
Most  of  them  had  been  opponents  to  conscription. 
Warrants  have  been  issued  in  June  for  the  arrest,  be- 
sides the  first  two,  of  Sam  Blumenberg  and  B.  Drivatkin, 
while  the  four  aliens  charged  in  July  for  sedition  were 
Blumenberg,  Kharitonov,  Almazov  and  Schoppeltrel. 
The  last  five  names  are  evidently  Russian  and  Jewish. 
Inspector  Guthrie,  of  the  Toronto  detective  force, 
stated  (end  of  May)  that  there  were  three  Bolshevist 
societies  in  the  city  which  were  working  secretly  to 
encourage  and  maintain  the  industrial  unrest.  Of  these 
the  membership  was  90  per  cent,  foreign  and  75  per  cent. 
Russian.  They  were  careful  not  to  appear  on  the  strike 
committees,  but  were  busy  sowing  the  seeds  of  revolu- 
tion. There  were,  undoubtedly,  similar  organizations 
at  Vancouver,  Victoria,  and  Winnipeg. 

What  were  their  aims  ?  It  is  shown  by  their  actions. 
As  early  as  March  1919  the  Bolshevist  character  of  their 
propaganda,  disclosed  by  the  decisions  of  the  Western 
Labour  Conference  at  Calgary,  consisting  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  all  the  Unions  in  Western  Canada.  The 
Calgary  Convention  resolved  to  separate  the  Western 
Unions  from  the  American  Federation  of  Labour  and 
inaugurate  "  a  movement  to  consolidate  all  the  labour 
bodies  into  '  One  Big  Union.'  '  The  Convention  sent 
fraternal  greetings  to  the  Russian  Soviet  Government 
and  to  the  Spartacists  in  Germany.  It  demanded 
the  release  of  all  political  prisoners  in  Canada  and  the 


266    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

immediate  withdrawal  of  the  Allied  troops  from  Russia, 
under  the  threat  of  a  general  strike.  It  protested  against 
the  further  deportation  of  alien  enemies  on  the  ground 
of  their  being  true  to  the  cause  of  Labour.  The  Van- 
couver Trades  and  Labour  Council  endorsed  the  same 
decisions.  A  Red  Book  published  at  Winnipeg  in  Rus- 
sian outlined  the  general  policy  of  Bolshevist  organi- 
zations in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  stated, 
as  the  cardinal  principle  of  the  movement,  the  over- 
throw of  the  "  damnable  trinity  of  Religion,  Govern- 
ment, and  Capitalism."  Henceforth  a  campaign  of 
propaganda  was  started  for  the  introduction  of  the 
Russian  Soviet  form  of  government,  thousands  of 
copies  of  Lenin's  addresses  were  freely  circulated,  and 
Bolshevist  doctrine  was  preached  for  months  without 
hindrance  in  the  cities  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Coast. 

On  May  I5th  an  open  revolt  was  tried  in  the  shape  of 
a  general  strike.  In  the  first  days  of  the  strike  at 
Winnipeg,  when  its  spokesmen  were  as  yet  bold  and 
arrogant,  they  stated  their  aims  quite  plainly.  "  Winni- 
peg is  now  governed  by  a  Soviet,"  the  editor  of  the 
Winnipeg  Socialist  wrote  on  May  i6th  ;  "  the  seat  of 
the  authority  has  been  transferred  from  the  City  Hall 
to  the  Labour  Temple."  The  Secretary  of  the  Winni- 
peg Trades  Council  told  the  meeting  of  strikers  that  "  a 
bigger  struggle  is  to  come  for  the  control  of  all  the 
resources  of  the  country."  Mr.  Ivens,  the  editor  of 
the  Socialist,  was  still  more  outspoken.  On  May  igth 
he  stated  that  "  in  a  short  time  there  will  be  no  need 
to  use  the  weapon  of  the  strike  :  we  shall  not  need  to 
strike  when  we  own  and  control  industry,  and  we 
won't  relinquish  the  fight  until  we  do  control."  On 
May  23rd  the  Labour  News,  the  organ  of  the  strikers, 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION          267 

said  :  "  The  fight  is  on.  It  overthrew  the  Governments 
in  Russia,  Austria,  and  Germany.  .  .  .  Now  it  has  Win- 
nipeg in  its  grip.  .  .  .  We  shall  fight  until  we  win." 

The  same  psychology  explains  the  attempt  to  extend 
the  strike  movement  over  all  Western  Canada.  In 
Toronto  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  the  District 
Trades  and  Labour  Council,  who  represented  moderate 
elements  of  Labour,  resigned  their  membership  at  the 
Strike  Committee  because  a  faction  of  the  Committee 
was  attempting  to  make  the  Toronto  strike  a  part  of 
a  Dominion-wide  strike,  in  furtherance  of  the  "  One 
Big  Union  "  plan.  And  on  June  i8th,  Mr.  Robert- 
son, the  Minister  of  Labour,  issued  a  statement  showing 
that  the  aim  of  the  "  sympathetic  "  strikes  was  every- 
where the  same.  "  The  information  and  evidence 
amply  warrant  the  conclusion,"  Mr.  Robertson  said, 
"  that  a  seditious  conspiracy  was  contemplated  by  a 
portion  of  the  members  of  the  Central  Strike  Committee, 
who  are  believed  to  be  revolutionary  and  dangerous  in 
tendencies.  .  .  .  Persistent  and  insidious  propaganda  and 
misrepresentation  were  being  spread  abroad,  especially 
among  the  railway  employees,  with  a  view  to  extending 
the  strike  and  utterly  dislocating  transportation.  .  . 
From  additional  evidence  obtained,  consisting  of  papers, 
pamphlets,  and  documents  gathered  by  the  police,  the 
citizens  .  .  .  will  .  .  .  reach  a  conclusion  as  to  the 
depth  and  seriousness  of  the  conspiracy  which  is  going 
on,  not  only  in  Winnipeg,  but  generally  throughout 
Western  Canada."  Mr.  Robertson  has  also  disclosed 
the  fact  "  that  in  correspondence  addressed  to  R.  T. 
Russell,  Secretary  of  the  '  One  Big  Union,'  the  pro- 
vincial executive  of  Manitoba  acknowledges  the  receipt 
of  Bolshevist  money."  After  the  arrest  of  Mr.  Russell, 


268   BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Mr.  Robertson  announced  that  there  was  positive 
proof  as  to  the  acceptance  of  large  sums  of  money  during 
March-May  from  Chicago,  to  be  devoted  to  the  spread 
of  Bolshevism  and  the  establishment  of  Soviet  Rule  in 
the  Dominion.  $29,000  was  to  have  been  sent  him  on 
June  i8th  by  special  messenger  from  the  United  States. 
The  Bolshevist  propaganda  had  met  with  strong 
opposition  on  the  part  of  returning  soldiers,  who  formed 
unions  of  Great  War  Veterans,  and  "  the  Grand  Army 
of  Canada,"  and  insisted  on  the  deportation  of  aliens. 
When  the  strikes  began  there  were  also  organized  the 
"  Committees  of  Citizens,"  which  prevented  the  strikes 
from  becoming  general,  while  the  Veterans  proposed 
to  the  Government  their  services  as  constables.  The 
Government  took  a  firm  attitude  towards  the  demands 
of  the  strikers.  At  once  the  tone  of  the  leaders  of  the 
movement,  as  well  as  that  of  their  Press,  has  changed, 
but  the  strike  movement  did  not  stop,  and  the  Govern- 
ment proceeded  to  drastic  measures.  All  processions 
and  congregations  of  crowds  in  the  streets  were  for- 
bidden by  the  Mayor  of  Winnipeg.  On  June  6th  the 
House  of  Commons  and  the  Senate,  within  an  hour's 
time,  passed  the  Bill  empowering  the  Government 
to  deport  persons  advocating  the  overthrow  of  con- 
stituted authority  who  are  not  British  subjects  by  birth 
in  Canada,  or  by  naturalization  in  Canada.  The  Bill 
applied  to  British  immigrants  who  were  not  naturalized 
and  who  were  believed  to  be  largely  responsible  for  the 
Western  Labour  conditions.  The  Special  Committee 
was  considering  amendments  to  the  criminal  code, 
declaring  unlawful  all  associations  purposing  to  bring 
about  governmental,  industrial,  or  economic  changes 
by  force.  It  also  declared  unlawful  all  attempts  to 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         269 

circulate  or  import  literature  advocating  a  resort  to 
force.  Mid- June  the  Winnipeg  strike  leaders  were 
imprisoned,  and  further  arrests  contemplated  at  Van- 
couver, Calgary,  Edmonton,  Saskatoon,  Moose  Jaw, 
Regina,  and  Brandon.  Henceforth,  much  less  was 
heard  of  the  industrial  unrest  in  Canada. 

The  situation  in  the  United  States  is  much  more 
complicated.  Happily,  we  receive  here  a  valuable  sup- 
port of  an  inquiry  into  the  "  Bolshevik  propaganda  " 
by  the  Committee  of  the  Judiciary  of  the  United  States 
Senate.  Hearings  before  a  Sub-committee  of  this  Com- 
mittee make  out  a  stately  volume  of  1,265  pages,  and 
include,  along  with  testimonies  of  American  witnesses 
having  visited  Russia,  some  of  them  pro-Bolsheviks, 
like  Mr.  John  Reed,  his  wife,  Louise  Bryant,  Mr.  Albert 
Rhys  Williams,  the  notorious  Mr.  Raymond  Robbins, 
so  much  responsible  for  America's  policy  toward  Bol- 
shevism, also  the  testimonies  of  professional  men 
in  the  Intelligence  Service,  Mr.  Tunney  and  Mr.  Steven- 
son. All  these  testimonies  confirm  what  we  might 
guess  from  other  sources.  In  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  in  other  Allied  countries,  but  in  a  far  larger 
measure  than  elsewhere,  the  Bolshevist  activities,  just 
as  the  Irish,  the  Indian,  the  Canadian,  are  closely  in- 
terwoven with  the  previous  anti-Ally  and  pro-German 
propaganda.  Organizing  strikes  in  the  factories  of 
munitions  was  a  part  of  the  scheme  for  destruction, 
worked  out  and  brought  into  action  by  the  Austrian 
Consul  and  the  German  military  and  naval  attaches. 
Pacifist  organizations  such  as  the  Emergency  Peace 
Federation  and  the  American  Neutral  Conference 

Committee,    which   existed   before   the   declarationffof 

/* 

war  by  the  United  States,  were  also  working  parallel 


270    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

with   pro-German   and   Bolshevist   lines.     The   Pacifist 

movement  became  more  radical  since  that  time,  as  may 

be  seen  from  the  activity  of  the  People's  Council  of 

America     for     Democracy     and    Peace,     founded     on 

August  7,  1917,  to  take  the  place   of  the  two  former 

organizations.     The   advent  of  this    organization   was 

hailed  with  enthusiasm  by  the  German  propagandists, 

and  wide  publicity  was  given  to  it  in  the  German  organs, 

such  as  Issues  and  Events,  The  Fatherland,  etc.     Among 

the  officers  and  Executive  Committee  are  E.  V.  Debs 

and  Irving  St.  John  Tucker,  having  served  sentences 

for    violation    of   the   Espionage   Act.     Mr.    Stevenson 

officially  stated  before  the  Senate  Sub-committee  that 

"  there  are  a  large  number  of  persons  connected  with 

this  organization  that  sympathize  with  the  Bolshevik 

and  Soviet   form    of    government."     "  The  outgrowth 

of  this  People's  Council  was  the  Liberty  Defence  Union, 

in  which  there  is  a  curious  mixture  of  intelligentsia  and 

Anarchists,  Radical  Socialists,  and  I.W.W.    Among  the 

members  of  this  organization,  Kate  Richards  O'Hare, 

now  serving  a  sentence  for  violation  of  the  Espionage 

Act,  was  an  associate  of  Lenin  and  Rosa  Luxembourg 

in    the    International    Socialist    Bureau,    the    People's 

House,  in  Brussels,  before  the  war,  in  1914."     Another 

delegate  of  the  same  Bureau  was  Mr.  Victor  Berger. 

Both  Berger  and  Kate  O'Hare  were  leading  members 

of  the  "  Commission  on  War  and  Militarism  "  at  the 

St.   Louis  Socialist  Convention    of    April    7-17,   1917, 

and  they  brought  in  the  "  Majority  "  Report  of  this 

Committee  which    was    adopted    by    the    Convention. 

This  meant  the  victory  of  the  revolutionary  Socialism, 

which  caused  the  withdrawal  from  the  party  of  some 

of  its  "  evolutionary  "  members,  such  as  Charles  Edward 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD   REVOLUTION         271 

Russell  and  John  Spargo.     The  resolution  adopted  by 
the  St.  Louis  Convention  runs  as  follows  : 


...  Be  it  resolved  that  the  Socialist  Party,  being  the 
political  arm  of  the  working  class  in  its  fight  for  industrial  free- 
dom, and  its  power  resting  mainly  in  its  clear-cut,  specific 
declaration  of  political  and  economic  principles,  rather  than 
in  the  number  of  votes  passed  for  party  candidates,  and  the 
purpose  of  the  Socialist  movement  being  the  emancipation  of 
the  working  class  from  economic  servitude,  rather  than  the 
election  to  office  of  candidates,  it  is  therefore  declared  to  be 
the  sense  of  that  Convention  that  all  State  organizations  facing 
the  solution  of  this  question  be  urged  to  remember  that  to 
fuse  and  to  compromise  is  to  be  swallowed  up  and  utterly 
destroyed  ;  that  they  be  urged  to  maintain  the  revolutionary 
position  of  the  Socialist  Party  and  maintain  in  the  utmost 
possible  vigour  the  propaganda  of  Socialism,  unadulterated  by 
association  of  office  seekers,  to  the  end  that  the  solidarity  of 
the  working  class,  the  principles  of  international  Socialism  may 
continue  to  lay  the  foundations  for  the  social  revolution. 

The  social  revolution,  not  political  office,  is  the  end  and  aim 
of  the  Socialist  Party.  No  compromise,  no  political  trading. 


Senator  Wolcott,  in  the  Senate  Sub-committee, 
rather  naively  asked  Mr.  Stevenson  :  "  Taking  the  great 
body  of  the  American  people,  were  they  not  too  level- 
headed to  be  influenced  by  this  outfit  ?  "  Mr.  Steven- 
son's answer  was :  "  We  must  remember,  Senator, 
that  the  really  American  people  are  not  present  in  very 
large  numbers  in  our  industrial  centres.  They  have 
made  a  very  great  impression  on  the  foreign  element." 
Here  we  come  to  the  specifically  Bolshevist  propaganda 
among  the  American  aliens  by  the  Russian  emigrees, 
such  as  Mr.  Leon  Trotsky.  To  show  at  once  just  how 
large  their  number  was,  I  shall  quote  the  following 
excerpt  from  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Thomas  J.  Tunney, 
the  Inspector  of  Police,  before  the  Senate  Sub- 
committee : 


272    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Senator  Nelson  :  How  many  of  those  Anarchists  and  those 
Radicals,  I.W.W.'s  and  Anarchists  have  you  in  New  York  ? 

Mr.  Tunney  :  I  believe  there  are  12,000  or  15,000  in  New 
York.  I  mean  those  who  sympathize  with  the  real  Radical 
movement.  I  should  say  we  probably  have  50,000  who  more 
or  less  sympathize  with  them.1 

Senator  Nelson  :  They  are  really  foreigners,  are  they  not  ? 

Mr.  Tunney  :  Mostly  foreigners. 

Senator  Nelson  :  From  what  part  of  the  Old  Country  ? 

Mr.  Tunney  :  The  three  principal  nationalities  that  they 
represent  are  Russians,  Spaniards — I  am  talking  about  the 
Anarchist  group — and  the  Italians,  mixed  up  with  some  Germans. 
There  are  a  few  Radical  Irishmen  and  Englishmen  and  a  few 
Americans. 

So  far  as  Russians  (Russian  Jews)  are  concerned, 
special  publications  were  issued  to  make  Bolshevist 
propaganda  among  them.  Leon  Trotsky  was  particu- 
larly connected  with  the  newspaper  Novy  Mir  (the 
New  World)  ;  the  other  editors  were  Weinstein  and 
Brailovsky.  According  to  Mr.  Tunney's  testimony, 
Trotsky  "  was  very  often  delivering  lectures  both  to 
Russians  and  Germans  on  anarchy  and  Radical 
Socialism."  He  also  "  travelled  somewhat  through  the 
United  States  "  on  lecturing  tours.  Mr.  Tunney  quotes 
some  of  these  meetings  ;  one  of  them  is  particularly 
interesting  to  us.  Mr.  Trotsky  was  leaving  for  Russia, 
after  the  success  of  the  Russian  March  Revolution. 
On  the  night  of  March  26th,  before  he  sailed  from 
New  York,  Mr.  Trotsky  addressed,  "  in  both  German 
and  Russian,"  a  large  meeting  of  over  1,000  "  German 
Socialists  and  Russians  "  at  the  Harlem  River  Casino. 
He  said  :  "I  am  going  back  to  Russia  to  overthrow 
the  Provisional  Government  and  stop  the  war  with 
Germany  and  allow  no  interference  from  any  outside 
Governments.  I  want  you  people  here  to  organize 
1  The  testimony  was  given  on  January  21,  1919. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         278 

and  keep  on  organizing  until  you  are  able  to  over- 
throw this  darned  rotten  capitalistic  Government  of 
this  country."  "  He  did  leave  the  next  morning, 
with  about  thirty-five  or  forty  of  his  associates," 
Mr.  Tunney  added  ;  "  and  from  that  date  (March  27, 
1917)  until  June  ist  about  450  Russians  left,  with 
various  leaders,  and  they  also  went  back  to  roast  the 
American  Commission  that  was  over  there  at  that 
time." 

The  fact  is  that  there  were  by  far  more  than  450 
Russian  (Jewish)  refugees  who  left  America  for  Russia 
after  the  beginning  of  the  Russian  Revolution,  to 
play  a  very  important  part  in  the  development  of 
Bolshevism  in  Russia.  This  fact  explains  many  things 
which  happened  since.  To  make  clear  the  part  of 
American  propagandists  in  Russia  I  may  quote  some 
testimonies  of  the  American  eye-witnesses  given  before 
the  Senate  Sub-committee.  Here  is  the  testimony  of 
Mr.  R.  B.  Dennis,  a  teacher  in  North-Western  Uni- 
versity, who  had  worked  in  Russia  from  November 
1917  to  September  1918,  first  for  the  American 
Y.M.C.A.,  and  since  April  in  the  Consular  Service. 
He  had  been  all  over  Russia,  in  Rostov,  Kharkoff, 
Moscow,  Nijni  Novgorod,  and  Petrograd.  This  is  what 
he  says : 

...  A  thing  that  interested  me  very  much  was  to  discover 
a  number  of  men  in  positions  of  power,  Commissaries  in  the 
cities  here  and  there  in  Russia,  who  had  lived  in  America  .  .  . 
in  the  industrial  centres.  I  met  a  number  of  them,  and  I  sat 
around  and  listened  to  attacks  upon  America  that  I  would  not 
take  from  any  man  in  this  country. 

Senator  Wolcott  :  In  the  main,  of  what  nationality  were  they  ? 

Mr.  Dennis  :  Russian  Hebrews.  The  men  that  I  met  there 
had  lived  in  America,  according  to  their  stories,  anywhere  from 
three  to  twelve  years  .  .  . 

18 


274    BOLSHEVISM :  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Senator  Overman  :  Are  these  people  over  there,  who  have 
lived  in  the  United  States,  taking  part  in  the  Bolshevist  move- 
ment ? 

Mr.  Dennis  :  This  is  the  thing  that,  in  my  opinion,  backed 
up  by  the  opinions  of  other  Americans,  Englishmen,  and  French- 
men with  whom  I  talked  when  we  got  into  Moscow,  and  were 
waiting  there  three  weeks  before  we  got  out,  and  comparing 
notes,  seems  more  interesting  than  the  fact  that  they  are  there 
in  positions  of  power  ;  that  these  men  were  the  most  bitter 
and  implacable  men  in  Russia  on  the  programme  of  the  exter- 
mination, if  necessary,  of  the  bourgeois  class.  I  never  met  a 
more  implacable  individual  than  a  man  that  they  called  the 
War  Commissary  in  Nijni-Novgorod ;  he  has  been  in  this 
country  a  number  of  years.  Our  general  opinion  in  Moscow 
was,  that  anywhere  from  20  to  25  per  cent,  of  Commissaries  in 
Soviet  Russia  had  lived  in  America. 

Senator  Overman  :  Do  you  know  any  of  them  that  have  been 
naturalized  in  this  country  ? 

Mr.  Dennis  :  No  ...  I  asked  two,  I  recall,  and  they  said 
they  had  not.  .  .  .  One  man,  when  I  bade  him  good-bye,  said  : 
"  Good-bye,  I  will  see  you  in  about  ten  years.  We  are  coming 
over  to  America  to  pull  off  this  same  show." 

The  same  impressions  are  given  by  a  man 
of  very  different  set  of  opinions,  Mr.  Raymond 
Robins,  the  head  of  the  American  Red  Cross 
Mission  in  Russia,  who  functioned  as  unofficial 
representative  of  the  American  Ambassador,  David 
K.  Francis,  with  the  Soviet  Government.  Says 
Mr.  Robins  : 

There  was  another  fact  of  importance.  There  returned  to 
Russia,  immediately  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  great 
numbers  of  Russians  from  America,  immigrants,  both  Gentile 
and  Jew.  .  .  .  They  represented  genuine  honest  men  who  had  met 
America  at  America's  worst  .  .  .  then  came  back  to  Russia  and 
spoke  .  .  .  (they)  interpreted  America  as  the  capitalist's  heaven 
and  the  workman's  hell.  That  was  perfectly  false,  but  it  carried 
influence,  because  those  men  spoke  the  language,  and  they  came 
back  with  that  interpretation  ;  and  man  after  man,  when  I 
was  fighting  against  the  rise  of  Bolshevism,  said  :  "  We  do  not 
care  for  your  democracy  ;  we  do  not  want  political  democracy  ; 
we  are  going  to  have  a  real  economic  Revolution.  We  did  not 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         275 

depose  our  Tsar  to  get  twenty  Tsars  ;  we  are  not  going  to  have 
a  Tsar  of  oil,  a  Tsar  of  coal,  a  Tsar  of  the  railroads."  .  .  .  To 
this  group  (of  honest  men)  were  added  the  agitators  who  were 
the  paid  agents  of  Germany  or  the  doctrinaire  Socialists  of  the 
destructive  groups,  such  as  the  I.W.W. 


It  is  now  known  that  it  was  Colonel  Raymond  Robins 
who,  through  his  private  secretary,  one  of  these 
Russian  Jews  from  America,  Mr.  Alexander  Gumberg, 
got  possession  of  the  documents  serving  to  reveal 
the  German  pecuniary  connections  with  the  Bolshe- 
viks, both  before  and  after  the  Russian  Revolution. 
Mr.  Gumberg 's  antecedents  are  particularly  interesting. 
To  my  knowledge  (I  have  the  following  from  a  Russian 
witness  closely  connected  with  Mr.  Gumberg),  Mr. 
Gumberg  had  lived  in  New  York  for  about  fifteen 
years,  and  he  contributed  to  the  New  World  (Trotsky's 
newspaper).  His  brother,  known  under  the  name  of 
the  Commissary  Zorin,  lived  in  the  same  room  with 
Trotsky  during  his  stay  in  New  York,  a  year  before 
the  Revolution  of  1917.  This  also  explains  the  good 
relations  between  Mr.  Robins  and  the  Bolshevik 
authorities.  Mr.  Francis,  in  his  testimony,  wondered 
what  Colonel  Robins  meant  by  saying  :  "I  have  the 
goods  on  my  person,"  while  leaving  Russia  via  Vladi- 
vostok. My  informant  helped  me  to  solve  the  riddle  : 
it  was  platinum  bought  from  the  Bolsheviks  through 
the  intermediary  of  Alexander  Gumberg.  Intimate 
relations  of  Colonel  Robins  with  that  group  of  the 
Bolsheviks  are  also  proven  by  the  fact  that  Radek, 
Trotsky,  and  his  lady  secretary,  saw  the  Americans 
off  in  Moscow,  and  Radek  said  he  hoped  that  the 
"  materials  "  given  to  them,  and  filling  up  quite  a 
railway  carriage,  would  reach  their  destination,  and 


276    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

that  "  soon  they  will  accomplish  the  American  revo- 
lution." 

Of  course,  Colonel  Robins'  present  construction  of 
the  aims  of  his  activity  with  the  Bolsheviks  is  quite 
different.  He  agreed  he  knew  all  about  the  World 
Revolution,  but  he  intended  to  divert  it  into  the 
German  channels.  The  following  conversation  at  the 
Sub-committee  is  characteristic  of  Robins'  official 
view  : 


Senator  King  :  I  want  to  call  your  attention  that  as  early 
as  the  22nd  of  December  1917  the  Bolshevik  Government 
stated  that  it  was  necessary  "  for  us  to  maintain  diplomatic 
relations,  not  only  with  foreign  Governments  through  couriers, 
but  also  with  the  socialistic  and  the  revolutionary  parties  which 
are  endeavouring  to  overthrow  the  existing  Governments." 
Do  you  not  regard  that,  Colonel  Robins,  as  a  challenge  by  them 
to  all  existing  Governments  and  an  expression  of  a  purpose  upon 
their  part  to  get  into  communication  with  revolutionary  organi- 
zations everywhere  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  all  existing 
Governments  ? 

Mr.  Robins  :  Thoroughly  so,  and  from  the  beginning  I  was 
in  full  understanding  of  that  purpose  .  .  .  but,  believing  that 
as  an  attack  on  Germany,  which  was  a  danger  very  near,  while 
others  were  most  remote. 

Senator  King  :  That  is  to  say,  you  understood  they  were 
going  to  light  the  fires  of  revolution  everywhere  ? 

Mr.  Robins  :  Wherever  they  could. 

Senator  King  :  And  after  it  has  burned  out  in  Europe  we 
might  extinguish  it  in  our  own  country  ? 

Mr.  Robins  :  After  it  had  burned  in  Germany,  and  it  had 
been  sufficient  to  fight  the  Central  Powers,  it  would  not  go 
further. 

Senator  King  :  But  you  knew  it  was  the  purpose  to  destroy 
our  Government  as  soon  as  they  could  ? 

Mr.  Robins  :    Everybody  there  knew  it. 

Colonel  Robins  has  brought  it  so  far  as  to  persuade 
the  Ambassador  Francis  "  to  work  together  to  that 
end,"  and  was  clever  enough  to  receive  from  the 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION        277 

Ambassador  the  following  telegraphic  acknowledgment 
(May  3,  1918)  : 

I  can  understand  the  difficulty  of  the  position  of  Lenin  and 
Trotsky  and  their  colleagues,  and  know  they  are  compelled  to 
profess  when  organizing  an  army,  or  preparing  any  kind  of 
resistance,  that  such  is  the  promotion  of  the  world-wide  social 
revolution  ;  at  the  same  time  you,  I  know,  have  always  felt  that 
it  was  necessary  to  encourage  such  professions  in  order  to  organize 
any  resistance  whatever  to  the  Central  Empires,  and  were  con- 
fident that  such  an  organization  would  never  be  used  against 
existing  Governments,  including  our  own.  But  it  is  difficult  to 
induce  our  Government  to  accept  that  view.  .  .  .  You  are  also 
aware  of  my  action  in  bringing  about  the  aid  of  the  Military 
Missions  towards  organizing  an  army  (of  the  Soviet)  .  .  .  they 
failed  because  the  Home  Government  refused  to  endorse  the  pro- 
gramme. 

Mr.  Robins  also  urged  recognition  of  the  Bolshevist 
Government  by  the  United  States ;  but  here  Mr. 
Francis  disagreed  with  him,  although,  on  January  2, 
1918,  on  the  condition  that  "  the  Russian  armies  now 
under  command  of  the  People's  Commissaries  commence 
and  seriously  conduct  hostilities  against  the  forces  of 
Germany  and  her  Allies,"  he  finally  consented  "  to 
recommend  to  his  Government  the  formal  recognition 
of  the  de  facto  Government  of  the  People's  Commis- 
saries." If  we  are  to  believe  Colonel  Robins,  England 
was  also  involved  in  that  scheme  through  the  inter- 
mediary of  Colonel  William  B.  Thompson.  Says  Mr. 
Robins :  "  He  (Colonel  Thompson)  left  largely  at 
my  earnest  request  that  he  should  go  out  by  way  of 
England,  and  that  he  should  make  an  effort  to  get  a 
correct  understanding  of  the  thing  in  England.  At 
that  time  Sir  George  Buchanan,  the  British  Ambas- 
sador, and  General  Knox,  the  chief  of  the  Military 
Mission,  were  absolutely  unwilling  to  do  anything  like 


278    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

co-operating  (as  the  Ambassador  of  the  United  States 
did)  to  try  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  situation  ;  and 
Colonel  Thompson  did  go  out  and  saw  Lloyd  George, 
and  the  result  was  that  the  British  High  Commissioner 
recalled  the  British  Ambassador,  Sir  G.  Buchanan,  and 
the  chief  of  the  British  Military  Mission,  General 
Knox."  Mr.  Robins  also  asserted  that  he  had  secured 
the  help  of  the  notorious  Captain  Sadoul  (later  on 
sentenced  to  capital  punishment  for  treason),  who 
"  has  agreed  with  the  position  that  I  held  and  has 
made  his  statement  in  France."  Mr.  Robins'  reve- 
lations throw  much  light  on  the  further  developments 
of  the  Allied  policy  toward  Bolshevism.  But  at  that 
time  the  encouragement  of  Bolshevism  did  not  go 
beyond  the  well-known  telegram  of  President  Wilson 
to  the  All-Russian  Congress  of  the  Soviets,  or  rather, 
on  Ambassador  Francis'  suggestion,  "  to  the  Russian 
people  "  through  the  Congress.  The  result  of  that  step 
was  described  by  the  Petrograd's  dictator,  Mr. 
Zinoviev  as  a  "  slap  in  the  face  to  the  President." 
The  Congress  sent  their  answer  to  the  address  of 
"  labouring  and  exploited  masses  in  the  United  States," 
and  "  used  the  occasion  of  the  message  from  President 
Wilson  ...  to  express  firm  conviction  that  the  happy 
time  is  near  when  the  labouring  masses  in  all  bourgeois 
countries  will  throw  off  the  capitalist  yoke  and  estab- 
lish a  socialistic  state  of  society."  As  at  the  same 
time  the  Congress,  contrary  to  Mr.  Francis'  expecta- 
tions, ratified  the  Brest-Litovsk  Peace,  all  hopes  of 
raising  armed  resistance  of  the  Bolsheviks  against  the 
Central  Empires  has  vanished,  and  attempts  at  the 
"  recognition  "  and  "  encouragement  "  of  Mr.  Lenin's 
Government  were  for  a  time  dropped. 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         279 

What  has  not  succeeded  with  the  Governments,  as 
a  result  of  "  diplomatic  relations  through  couriers," 
might  still  succeed  in  the  proper  sphere  of  the  usual 
Bolshevist  action,  the  propaganda  through  "  the  revo- 
lutionary parties  which  are  endeavouring  to  overthrow 
the  existing  Governments."  They  were  partly  the 
same  people  who  had  tried  to  influence  diplomacy, 
who  now  redoubled  their  exertions  to  bring  the 
Bolshevist  propaganda  back  from  Russia  to  America. 

Alexander  Gumberg,  Robins'  secretary,  performed  in 
Moscow  the  functions  of  the  chief  censor  of  telegrams 
despatched  by  foreign  journalists  to  America,  England, 
and  France.  No  telegram  passed  without  being  con- 
trolled by  Gumberg.  After  his  return  to  America, 
Gumberg  was  appointed  president  and  chief  manager 
of  the  Russian  Telegraphic  Agency  (Rosta)  in  New 
York.  On  December  23,  1917,  a  decree  appropriated 
2,000,000  roubles  for  the  needs  of  the  revolutionary 
international  movement  and  for  the  purpose  of  carry- 
ing on  the  work  of  the  Soviet  Governments  in  other 
countries  besides  Russia.  The  bureau  of  international 
revolutionary  propaganda  was  attached  to  the  Com- 
missary for  Foreign  Affairs,  and  another  Russo- 
American  Jew,  Mr.  Reinstein,  was  appointed  as  its 
head,  under  Radek.  Two  American  journalists  were 
employed  in  that  office,  Mr.  John  Reed,  a  resident  of 
Oregon  and  a  war  correspondent  since  1915,  and  Mr. 
Albert  Rhys  Williams,  a  former  Congregational  minister, 
who  left  the  Church  and  devoted  himself  to  literary 
work  for  the  Revolution.  This  is  how  both  describe 
their  work  for  the  Bolsheviks  in  their  evidence  before 
the  Sub-committee.  Mr.  Reed  :  "  The  Press  Bureau 
edited  the  papers.  They  published  one  paper  in 


280    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

German,  which  changed  its  name  from  Die  Fakel  to 
Der  Volkfriede,  and  we  got  a  circulation  of  half  a 
million  a  day  of  that ;  and  then  we  got  out  half  a  million 
of  a  Hungarian  paper,  and  a  quarter  of  a  million  of 
a  Bohemian  paper,  and  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  a 
Rumanian  paper,  and  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  a 
Turkish  paper  ;  and  then  we  translated  all  the  decrees, 
etc."  Mr.  Williams  gives  the  following  description  : 
"  They  published,  with  those  2,000,000  roubles,  three 
pamphlets  in  French  and  English  ...  of  those 
2,000,000  roubles,  99  per  cent. — I  have  worked  it 
out  to  a  figure — were  spent  upon  literature  in  the 
languages  of  the  German  and  Austro-Hungarian  Em- 
pires. .  .  .  The  propaganda  was  concentrated  against 
Germany  and  Austro-Hungary.  They  have  tried  to 
get  some  into  France  and  England.  .  .  .  There  has 
never  been  any  particular  attempt  to  get  propaganda 
into  America." 

This  was  obviously  the  method  of  self-defence  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  Williams,  as  well  as  Mr.  Reed  and 
Colonel  Robins,  to  emphasize  that  they  were  using 
propaganda  chiefly  against  "  the  German  Imperialists." 
But  Mr.  Williams  could  not  conceal  from  the  Sub- 
committee that  they  also  were  ready  to  fight  "  every 
imperialistic  design  amongst  the  Allies  that  would 
throttle  the  Russian  peasants  and  workers,  and  would 
turn  their  natural  love  for  America  into  hate."  To 
that  effect  Mr.  Williams  avowed  to  have  "  presented 
reports  to  certain  members  of  the  State  Department, 
to  Justice  Brandeis,  to  Colonel  House,  and  through 
him  to  the  President."  But  he  also  mentioned  that 
"  in  May  1918  there  sprang  up  the  idea  of  a  Russian 
Bureau  of  Public  Information  in  America."  The 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         281 

Government  did  not  permit  the  Bureau  to  open, 
but  both  Mr.  Williams  and  Mr.  Reed,  the  un- 
recognized representatives  of  the  Russian  Soviet 
in  America,  have  found  other  ways  to  carry  the 
Bolshevist  propaganda  into  the  United  States. 
They  were  helped  by  Louise  Bryant,  the  wife  of 
Mr.  Reed. 

The  results  of  the  activity  of  these  and  other  American 
propagandists  soon  became  patent.  Mr.  Stevenson 
stated  before  the  Sub-committee,  as  early  as  the  end 
of  January  1919,  that  "  the  Russian  Bolsheviks  have 
flooded  America  with  propaganda  literature.  ...  A 
large  number  of  documents  are  printed  in  Russian, 
Yiddish,  Finnish,  and  the  various  other  languages  which 
are  spoken  by  large  groups  of  our  foreign  immigrants 
in  this  country  ;  and  besides  all  this,  we  find  that 
Socialist  papers,  almost  without  exception,  encourage 
and  support  this  movement.  .  .  .  Immediately  after 
the  signing  of  the  Armistice  there  was  a  tremendous 
outcrop  of  this  propaganda.  The  number  of  meetings 
doubled."  The  movement  is  "  growing  rather  rapidly 
if  we  can  gauge  it  by  the  amount  of  literature  that  is 
distributed  and  the  number  of  meetings  held.  ...  I 
conceive  it  to  be  the  gravest  menace  to  the  country 
to-day." 

Asked  what  remedy  he  could  suggest  to  complete 
his  diagnosis,  Mr.  Stevenson  said  :  "  In  the  first  place, 
the  foreign  agitators  should  be  deported ;  the  bars 
should  be  put  to  exclude  seditious  literature  from 
the  country  ;  American  citizens  that  advocate  revo- 
lution should  be  punished  under  a  law  drawn  for 
that  purpose."  Then  Mr.  Stevenson  recommended 
"  a  counter-propaganda  campaign,  a  campaign  of 


282    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

education."  He  wound  up  his  testimony  by  the  state- 
ment "  that  so  long  as  the  Bolsheviks  control  and 
dominate  the  millions  of  Europe,  so  long  that  is 
going  to  be  a  constant  menace  and  encourage- 
ment to  the  radical  and  dissatisfied  elements  in  this 
country." 

The  rapid  growth  of  Bolshevism  in  the  United 
States  was  made  easy  by  the  co-operation  of  previous 
currents  of  extremist  movement  which  now  made  one 
with  Bolshevism.  The  traditional  form  of  American 
extremism  was  anarchism.  Leading  Anarchists,  like 
Emma  Goldman  and  Alexander  Berkman,  made  friends 
with  Trotsky  while  in  New  York.  The  two  above- 
mentioned  leaders  were  later  arrested  and  tried  ;  but 
the  movement  was  spreading,  and  it  is  no  mere  chance 
that  the  first  manifestation  of  the  Bolshevist  violence 
took  the  form  of  a  "  bomb  conspiracy  "  on  the  tradi- 
tional Anarchist  lines.  On  May  ist  a  dozen  or  more 
bombs  addressed  to  men  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
were  deposited  for  mailing  in  a  New  York  City  post- 
office.  Fortunately,  they  were  discovered  in  time, 
and  the  only  victim  was  a  coloured  servant  girl,  both 
of  whose  hands  were  blown  off  when  she  opened  the 
package  addressed  to  her  master.  A  month  later,  on 
June  2nd,  another  bomb  demonstration  succeeded  so 
far  as  to  draw  serious  attention  to  the  perpetrators 
of  the  crime.  Explosions  took  place  simultaneously  in 
nine  great  cities  of  the  United  States  :  at  Washington, 
Cleveland,  Newtonville,  New  York,  Boston,  Paterson, 
Pittsburg,  Philadelphia,  Roxburg.  Some  of  the  pro- 
clamations found  among  the  wreckage  in  Washington 
were  by  far  more  Bolshevist  than  Anarchist.  Here  is 
an  extract  from  one  of  them  : 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         283 

The  powers  that  be  made  no  secret  of  their  will  to  stop  here 
in  America  the  world-wide  spread  of  revolution.  The  powers 
that  be  must  reckon  that  they  will  have  to  expect  the  fight 
they  have  provoked.  A  time  has  come  when  the  solution  of 
social  questions  can  be  delayed  no  longer.  Class  war  is  on, 
and  cannot  cease  but  with  a  complete  victory  for  the  inter- 
national proletariat. 

Among  the  persons  arrested  there  was  a  certain  John 
Johnson,  the  president  of  the  Pittsburg  branch  of 
the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World  (I.W.W.).  The 
police  authorities  alleged  that  he  was  the  directing 
genius  of  the  bomb  plots.  He  was  said  to  have  come 
to  Pittsburg  at  the  instance  of  "  No.  1001,"  which 
is  the  pass  number  of  William  Haywood,  the  President 
of  the  National  Union  of  the  I.W.W.  This  brings  us 
to  another  element  which  helped  Bolshevism  to  its 
growth  in  America.  The  Industrial  Union  of  the 
I.W.W.  was  launched  at  a  Congress  at  Chicago  on 
June  27,  1905.  Anarchists  entered  the  Union  ;  the 
other  constituent  parts  of  it  were  Parliamentary 
Socialists  of  both  types  (revolutionary  and  reformist), 
Industrial  Unionists  (revolutionary) ,  and  Labour  Union- 
ists (evolutionary,  nicknamed  "  fakir  "  in  the  I.W.W. 
slang).  In  its  very  first  declaration  ("  preamble  "  to 
the  constitution)  the  Union  proclaimed  the  principle 
of  class  war.  "  The  working  class  and  the  employing 
class  have  nothing  in  common.  .  .  .  Between  these 
two  classes  a  struggle  must  go  on  until  (see  p.  284). 
.  .  .  The  Trade  Unions  aid  the  employing  class  to 
mislead  the  workers  into  the  belief  that  the  working 
class  have  interests  in  common  with  their  employers." 
However,  some  mitigating  expressions  have  been 
added  to  the  "  preamble  "  by  the  "  labour  fakirs." 
At  the  following  congresses  a  struggle  was  fought  out 


284    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

between  the  Evolutionists  and  the  revolutionary  leaders, 
such  as  W.  G.  Trautmann  and  John  R.  Jordan.  It 
finished  with  a  rupture  between  the  "  politicians " 
and  the  "  Industrial  Unionists  "  at  the  Fourth  Congress 
of  the  I.W.W.  It  was  then  that  the  "  preamble  "  was 
amended  in  a  more  decisive  sense,  e.g.  the  phrase 
following  the  word  "  until  "  was  changed  to  another  : 

The  Original  Text.  The  Amendment. 

until   all  the  toilers  come  to-      until  the  workers  of  the  world, 
gether  on  the  political,  as  well      organized  as  a  class,  take  pos- 
as  on  the  industrial  field,  and      session  of   the  earth   and   the 
take  and  hold  that  which  they      machinery   of   production  and 
produce  by  their  labour  through      abolish  the  wage  system, 
an  economic  organization  of  the 
working    class,    without   affili- 
ation with  any  political  party. 

Thus  the  development  from  evolutionary  Socialism  to 
a  form  of  revolutionary  Syndicalism  was  brought  to 
a  finish.  To  emphasize  the  basic  principle  and  the 
tactics  of  the  renewed  doctrine  the  following  comment 
was  made  on  the  "  preamble,"  in  a  leaflet  on  The 
I.W.W.,  its  History,  Structure  and  Methods,  by 
Vincent  St.  John  : 

It  is  the  historic  mission  of  the  working  class  to  do  away 
with  capitalism.  The  army  of  production  must  be  organized, 
not  only  for  the  every-day  struggle  with  the  capitalists,  but 
also  to  carry  on  production  when  capitalism  shall  have  been 
overthrown.  By  organizing  industrially  we  are  forming  the 
structure  of  the  new  society  within  the  shell  of  the  old.  .  .  . 
In  its  basic  principle  the  I.W.W.  calls  forth  that  spirit  of  revolt 
and  resistance  that  is  so  necessary  a  part  of  the  equipment  of 
any  organization  of  the  workers  in  their  struggle  for  economic 
independence.  In  a  word,  its  basic  principle  makes  the  I.W.W. 
a  fighting  organization.  .  .  .  The  tactics  used  are  determined 
solely  by  the  power  of  the  organization  to  make  good  in  their 
use.  The  question  of  "  right  "  and  "  wrong  "  does  not  concern 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         285 

us.  No  terms  made  with  an  employer  are  final.  All  peace  so 
long  as  the  wage  system  lasts  is  but  an  armed  truce.  .  .  .  Failing 
to  force  concession  from  the  employers  by  the  strike,  work  is 
resumed  and  "  sabotage  "  is  used.  ...  In  short,  the  I.W.W. 
advocates  the  use  of  militant  "  direct  action  "  tactics  to  the 
full  extent  of  our  power  to  make  good. 

Of  course,  it  was  now  easy  for  the  I.W.W.  to  endorse 
the  practically  identical  doctrine  and  tactics  of  Bolshe- 
vism. In  a  pamphlet  of  Harrison  George  (The  Red 
Dawn)  this  identity  is  formally  stated.  "  The  wave 
of  bourgeois  ideology,"  the  author  says,  "  that  poured 
into  Russia  now  is  overturned,  and,  with  terrific 
force,  its  proletarian  crest  sweeps  outwards  over  Europe. 
The  war  between  national  groups  of  the  bourgeoisie  is 
changing,  under  pressure  of  the  Russian  workers,  into 
a  war  between  classes.  .  .  .  The  world  proletariat 
shall  crush  its  enemy,  without  and  within  ;  break  its 
rusty  chains  and  establish  real  freedom — Industrial 
Freedom." 

This  is  the  conventional  internationalist  doctrine. 
It  made  out  the  substance  of  the  rapidly  growing 
Bolshevist  propaganda  amongst  the  American  working 
class,  chiefly  that  layer  of  alien  extraction  amongst 
them  in  the  United  States.  The  results  are  easily 
guessed.  Here,  as  everywhere,  we  meet  with  a  series 
of  strikes.  At  the  beginning,  these  are  mostly  un- 
authorized strikes,  organized  by  small  irresponsible 
groups,  independently  and  sometimes  against  the 
formal  decisions  of  larger  Labour  organizations.  At 
a  later  stage,  the  recognized  Labour  leaders,  even  so 
moderate  as  Mr.  Gompers,  find  themselves  obliged  to 
follow  the  general  trend  of  Labour  opinion.  They 
make  concessions  to  it  and,  just  as  is  the  case  in 
Britain,  proclaim  strikes  of  their  own  in  order  to  be 


286  BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

able  to  control  the  movement.  At  that  stage  a  process 
of  differentiation  begins  between  the  extremist  and 
more  moderate  elements  in  the  Labour  movement. 
The  Government  feels  obliged  and  encouraged  to  take 
drastic  measures  against  the  extremist  lead.  The  final 
result  here,  as  well  as  in  Great  Britain,  is  far  from  being 
reached,  but,  as  a  result  of  repression,  the  extremist 
movement  for  a  time  subsides. 

So  far  the  trend  of  events  runs  parallel  to  what  we 
know  in  Great  Britain  and  in  France.  But  the  special 
feature  for  America  is  that,  in  the  first  place,  the 
Labour  movement  is  here  by  far  not  so  much  developed 
as  in  Europe,  while  the  capitalist  side  is  much  more 
strongly  organized  and  much  more  influential  both 
in  the  legislature  and  in  the  administration.  In  the 
second  place,  as  a  result  of  a  weaker  combativeness 
of  the  native  working  man — which  is  not  necessarily 
explained  by  his  lesser  consciousness  of  his  class  interest 
— the  aggressive  forms  of  Labour  movement  are  chiefly 
developing  amidst  the  aliens.  That  is  why  at  the 
beginning  the  whole  extremist  movement  is  repre- 
sented by  aliens.  The  climax  is  reached  when  national 
Labour  organizations  join  in  it.  But,  then,  the  process 
of  differentiation  of  moderate  from  extremist  element 
is  very  much  hastened  because  it  finds  a  strong  support 
in  the  national  movement  against  the  alien  danger. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  determine  the  exact  moment 
when  the  general  trend  of  the  Labour  unrest  from 
extremist  and  alien  becomes  national  and  chiefly 
industrial.  It  coincides  with  the  moment  of  failure 
of  the  Industrial  Conference  convened  at  Washington 
on  October  6th  by  President  Wilson  in  order  to  let 
the  representatives  of  both  sides,  employers  and 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         287 

employees,  discuss  plans  for  a  better  understanding. 
The  Conference  was  preceded  by  the  first  strike  on 
a  national  scale,  that  of  steel  workers,  declared  on 
September  2ist.  It  was  followed  by  another,  by  far 
more  dangerous,  nation-wide  strike  of  miners,  declared 
on  November  i,  1919.  The  steel  strike  is  described 
by  The  Times  correspondent  from  New  York  as  "an 
attempt  by  the  extreme  elements  in  the  Labour  move- 
ment to  take  advantage  of  what  would  otherwise  be 
a  sound  case  for  the  men,  and  to  push  it  to  what 
amounts  to  an  agitation  in  the  direction  of  Syndicalism." 
The  strike  has  been  initially  ignored  by  the  great 
majority  of  American-born  workmen.  The  Syndicalist 
propaganda  has  had  the  greatest  effect  in  Cleveland, 
Chicago,  Pittsburg,  and  other  districts  where  large 
numbers  of  Germans,  Austrians,  Russian  Jews,  etc., 
are  employed.  The  American  Federation  of  Labour 
with  Mr.  Gompers  kept  silent. 

The  case  was  quite  different  with  the  miners'  strike, 
which  took  place  after  the  Industrial  Conference  had 
broken  up,  owing  to  the  uncompromising  attitude  taken 
by  the  employers.  It  was  then  that  the  idea  of  a 
"  triple  alliance  "  for  America  (industrial  unions,  rail- 
ways unions,  and  farmers)  made  its  appearance.  Mr. 
Gompers,  who  was  known  to  be  very  hostile  to  ex- 
tremism, but  who  felt  now  personally  weakened  by 
his  impotence  at  the  Industrial  Conference,  was  obliged 
to  make  concessions.  He  declared  now  that  he  was 
willing  "  to  have  full  responsibility  for  anything  that 
might  happen  "  in  the  coming  struggle  for  the  miners. 
The  coal  strike  was  announced  a  few  days  before 
November  ist.  It  was  intended  to  be  a  strike  on 
purely  industrial  issues,  as  differentiated  from  the 


288    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

"  ill-advised "  steel  strike.  The  organized  American 
labour  had  this  time  to  take  sides.  At  a  convention 
in  Cleveland  the  demands  of  the  strikers  were  formu- 
lated as  follows  :  "  a  60  per  cent,  increase  in  wages, 
a  six-hour  day,  a  five-day  week,  weekly  pay  days, 
time  and  a  half  for  overtime,  double  time  for  holiday 
work,  and  the  abolition  of  the  automatic  penalties 
for  the  failure  to  carry  out  Labour  contracts."  The 
owners  refused  to  yield,  and  the  men  refused  the 
arbitration.  The  first  ones  were  too  confident  in  their 
strong  position  and  wished  to  bring  things  to  an 
immediate  issue  rather  than  postpone  it.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  American  Trade  Unionism  wished  to 
keep  the  concessions  that  the  war  urgency  brought 
them,  and  if  possible  to  enlarge  them.  Even  such 
moderate  and  sane  leaders  as  Mr.  Lewis,  the  President 
of  the  miners'  unions,  found  the  strike  inevitable,  for 
the  reason  that  if  the  miners  did  not  strike  officially, 
the  collieries  might,  none  the  less,  be  crippled  by  un- 
authorized strikes  much  more  difficult  to  deal  with, 
and  the  whole  movement  will  be  taken  up  and  led 
by  the  Extremists. 

The  Government,  backed  by  the  public  opinion  and 
the  owners,  took  at  once  a  firm  stand.  President 
Wilson  from  his  sick-bed  launched  a  "  solemn  request  " 
to  the  miners  not  to  strike,  and  in  case  the  strike  occurs 
warned  them  that  they  will  be  guilty  of  a  "  grave  legal 
and  moral  wrong,"  and  that  the  law  will  be  enforced. 
Federal  troops  in  large  numbers  were  moved  to  the 
mining  districts ;  law  offices  were  directed  to  take 
legal  action  against  the  organizers,  and  an  injunction 
forbidding  the  coal  strike  was  granted  in  the  Federal 
Court  at  Indianopolis  on  October  3ist.  Further 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         289 

injunctions  were  to  be  sought  in  the  various  States 
against  local  leaders. 

Nevertheless,  on  November  ist  753,000  coal  miners 
stopped  work.  The  injunction  proved  effective  only 
so  far  as  no  strike  orders  were  issued  by  the  official 
leaders  and  no  benefit  funds  disbursed.  No  arbitra- 
tion was  possible  because  the  Government  looked  at 
the  strike  as  being  illegal  under  the  terms  of  war-time 
legislation  and  refused  to  negotiate  with  men  who 
were  disobeying  the  law.  A  week  later,  when  visible 
signs  of  curtailment  in  the  expenditure  of  coal 
appeared,  as  a  result  of  the  strikes,  the  Government 
decided  to  resort  to  drastic  measures  against  the 
extremist  and  the  alien  element  all  over  the  country. 
On  November  8th  a  widespread  raid  on  extremist 
organizations  was  begun  by  the  agents  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Justice.  Not  less  than  2,500  "  Radicals  " 
were  arrested.  Not  more  than  5  per  cent,  of  the 
persons  arrested  were  American  citizens.  The  pro- 
minent feature  of  the  whole  scheme  was  a  raid  on  the 
headquarters  of  the  "  Federations  of  Unions  of  Russian 
Workers  in  the  United  States  "  in  New  York  City. 
The  number  of  members  of  the  New  York  branch  of 
this  "  Federation  "  was  said  to  be  7,000.  According 
to  State  Senator  Clayton  R.  Lusk's  testimony,  on 
September  i,  1919,  the  Communist  party  was  founded  in 
Chicago,  as  a  coalition  of  all  the  Extremists,  and  within 
two  months  seventy-five  meeting  places  and  business 
offices  of  the  party  were  opened  in  New  York  alone, 
and  vast  propaganda  machinery  has  been  established 
over  all  the  United  States.  Twenty-five  tons  of 
Bolshevist  literature  were  found  in  possession  of  these 
seventy-five  meeting  places,  including  Lenin's  appeal  to 

19 


290    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

the  workers  in  America.  Funds  for  carrying  on  all  this 
propaganda,  according  to  Senator  Lusk,  who  presided 
over  a  Legislative  Committee  investigating  Bolshevism, 
were  "  furnished  mainly  by  large  contributors  abroad 
and  in  this  country."  Half  a  hundred  revolutionary 
newspapers,  printed  in  foreign  languages  and  having 
a  circulation,  largely  through  free  distribution,  of 
3,000,000  copies  in  the  great  industrial  centres, 
were  subsidized  by  "  Parlour  Bolsheviks  " — otherwise 
wealthy  amateur  revolutionists  living  in  New  York. 
This  is  confirmed  by  Mr.  Reed's  testimony  before  the 
Senate  Sub-committee.  "  You  know,"  he  said,  "  there 
are  some  wealthy  women  in  New  York  who  have 
nothing  to  do  with  their  money  except  something  like 
that." 

Some  of  the  documents  seized  in  the  raids  on  the 
Union  of  Russian  Workers — printed  in  Russian  language 
— were  made  public  by  the  authorities.  Amongst 
them  there  is  a  Manifesto  outlining  the  plan  of  a  Bol- 
shevist revolution,  as  follows  : 

WHAT  SHOULD   BE   OUR  MEANS   OF  CARRYING    ON  THE  FIGHT. 

.  .  .  We  must  conscientiously  hasten  the  elementary  move- 
ment of  the  struggle  of  the  working  class.  We  must  convert 
small  strikes  into  general  ones,  and  convert  the  latter  into  an 
armed  revolt  of  the  labouring  masses  against  capital  and  the 
State.  At  the  time  of  this  revolt  we  must  at  the  first  favour- 
able opportunity  proceed  to  the  immediate  seizure  of  all  means 
of  production  and  all  articles  of  consumption,  and  name  the 
working  classes  masters  in  fact  of  all  general  wealth.  At  the 
same  time  we  must  mercilessly  destroy  all  remains  of  govern- 
mental authority  and  class  domination  by  liberating  prisoners, 
demolishing  prisons  and  police  offices,  and  destroying  all  legal 
papers  pertaining  to  private  ownership  of  property,  all  field 
fences  and  boundaries,  and  burn  all  certificates  of  indebtedness. 
In  a  word,  we  must  take  care  that  everything  is  wiped  out  off 
the  earth  that  is  a  reminder  of  the  right  of  private  ownership 
of  property.  .  .  . 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION         291 

The  membership  books  of  the  Union  of  Russian 
Workers,  which  had  sixty  branches  in  the  States, 
contained  the  following  preamble  : 

Because  the  struggle  between  the  classes  will  only  end  when 
the  toiling  masses,  organized  as  a  class,  understand  their  true 
interests,  and  make  themselves  masters  of  all  the  world's  riches 
by  means  of  a  violent  social  revolution,  for  the  attainment 
of  these  aims  we  consider  of  final  importance  the  necessary 
•building  up  of  a  wide  revolutionary  organization  of  toilers 
which,  while  conducting  a  direct  struggle  with  all  institutions 
•of  capitalist  government,  must  train  the  working  classes  to 
take  initiative  and  independent  action,  and  then  educate  in 
it  the  consciousness  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  a  general  strike 
— of  social  revolution. 

There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  as  to  the  intense 
resentment  roused  among  American  citizens  by  this 
alien  extremist  propaganda.  A  Bill  was  introduced 
to  the  Congress  for  spending  5,000,000  dollars  this 
year,  and  twice  as  much  henceforth  annually,  for  the 
"  Americanization  of  the  alien."  The  Bill  was  sup- 
ported officially  by  figures  showing  that  some 
3,000,000  out  of  30,000,000  of  alien  blood  cannot 
speak  English,  and  more  than  5,000,000  cannot 
read  it.  Within  a  three  to  nine  years'  period  after 
their  arrival  only  8  per  cent,  of  Russians  were  stated 
to  have  become  citizens.  "  How  can  we,"  the  New 
York  Tribune  asked,  "  ever  hope  for  a  united  nation 
amidst  such  conditions  ?  What  can  we  expect  except 
that  extreme  leaders,  appealing  to  these  alien  groups 
in  their  own  tongue,  can  easily  win  them  to  stupid 
.and  suicidal  attacks  upon  that  which  they  do  not 
understand  ?  " 

However,  the  question  of  alien  propaganda  could 
not  cover  the  other  issue,  that  between  capital  and 


292    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

labour.  As  already  mentioned,  the  coal  strike  was 
backed  by  American  Trade  Unionism,  and  on  Novem- 
ber Qth  the  Executive  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labour  formally  endorsed  it,  promised  its  support  to 
the  miners,  and  appealed  for  support  of  all  "  workers 
and  citizens  of  our  country."  The  leaders  of  the 
miners,  menaced  by  the  legal  prosecution,  it  is  true, 
took  to  another  line  of  action.  On  November  nth, 
after  a  meeting  lasting  seventeen  hours,  they  passed  the 
following  resolution  :  "  In  obedience  to  the  mandate  of 
the  United  States  Court,  the  order  of  October  I5th, 
directing  the  cessation  of  the  operations  in  the 
bituminous  coalfields,  is  withdrawn  and  cancelled." 
"  We  are  American,"  Mr.  Lewis  said,  alluding 
obviously  to  alien  revolutionists ;  "we  cannot  fight 
our  Government."  Nevertheless,  this  resolution, 
taken  reluctantly  and  "  under  protest,"  was  never 
enacted.  On  the  contrary,  the  relations  between 
the  Government  and  the  organized  Labour  have  now 
become  much  more  acute.  And  the  influence  of 
the  Extremists  was  likely  to  increase  even  among 
the  native  working  men  with  the  weakening  of 
their  own  leaders'  influence,  owing  to  the  Govern- 
ment's uncompromising  attitude  having  forced  these 
leaders  to  unconditional  surrender. 

A  new  Conference  between  the  union  leaders  and 
the  employers,  summoned  at  Washington  on  November 
I7th,  so  far  from  improving  the  situation,  brought  it 
to  a  complete  deadlock.  The  Secretary  of  Labour, 
Mr.  W.  B.  Wilson,  having  produced  the  figures  showing 
that  the  cost  of  living  in  mining  districts  since  Decem- 
ber 1917  had  increased  79'8  per  cent.,  suggested  a 
wage  increase  of  31 '6  per  cent,  over  the  existing  scale 


OUT  FOR  A  WORLD  REVOLUTION       293 

(instead  of  60  per  cent,  demanded  by  the  strikers), 
coupled  with  a  seven-hour  day  and  a  half-holiday  on 
Saturday.  The  owners  declared  Mr.  Wilson's  figures 
and  proposals  "  partisan  and  impossible,"  and  they 
offered  a  20  per  cent,  advance  in  wages.  Then  the 
Government  interfered  by  proposing  to  the  miners  an 
advance  of  14  per  cent,  in  wages.  Of  course,  Mr. 
Lewis  flatly  rejected  this  proposal,  while  the  owners 
reluctantly  favoured  it,  although  they  complained  that 
with  even  14  per  cent,  increase  they  would  be  unable 
to  continue  working  certain  mines  with  thin  seams. 
Upon  that  the  negotiations  were  broken  off.  When 
these  lines  were  being  written  the  Government  had 
to  choose  between  the  extension  of  drastic  measures 
or  further  concessions  to  Labour.  Whatever  line  they 
choose,  they  will  hardly  put  an  end  to  the  acute  stage 
of  the  class  movement.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  the 
birth  of  a  new  "  National  "  Labour  Party  in  Chicago, 
with  the  State  Socialism  as  a  platform  and  with  very 
mixed  membership,  which,  though,  is  united  in  a  common 
desire  to  oppose  both  the  I.W.W.  and  the  "  Communist 
Labour  Party."  The  new  party  thus  avoids  the 
charges  of  being  alien  and  revolutionary,  while  it 
remains  mildly  socialistic  and  political.  But  even  in 
that  way  the  National  Socialist  party  can  hardly 
secure  the  adhesion  of  American  Trade  Unionism,  with 
its  still  more  moderate  programme.  In  its  turn,  Trade 
Unionism  cannot  count  upon  the  support  of  the  farmers, 
who  greatly  outnumber  the  working  men,  and  who 
only  recently  replied  to  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Gompers 
that  they  intend  to  stand  with  the  bourgeoisie  and  the 
property  owners  rather  than  with  Labour  in  any  class 
struggle  that  may  be  forthcoming.  This  is  also  why, 


294    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

in  spite  of  all  successes  of  the  extremist  movement 
amidst  the  working  class,  there  is  no  real  fear  of  the 
"  Red  "  peril  in  America.  The  easy  cure  from  Bolshe- 
vism is  generally  found  in  adequate  legislation  and  in 
energetic  and  intelligent  way  of  handling  the  law. 
It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  that  attitude  of  public 
opinion  is  not  too  much  optimistic. 


CONCLUSION 

MR.  RAYMOND  ROBINS,  speaking  before  the  American 
Senate  Sub-committee,  told  them  one  of  his  conver- 
sations with  Lenin,  which  might  serve  as  a  motto  to 
this  book.  "  Nicolas  Lenin,  sitting  in  the  Kremlin, 
said  to  me,"  Mr.  Robins  rather  solemnly  declared, 
"  the  Russian  Revolution  will  probably  fail.  We  have 
not  developed  far  enough  in  the  capitalist  stage,  we  are 
too  primitive  to  realize  the  socialistic  state.  But  we 
will  keep  the  flame  of  the  Revolution  alive  in  Russia 
until  it  breaks  in  Europe.  It  will  break  first  in  Bul- 
garia, and  the  Bulgarians  will  cease  fighting.  It  will 
break  next  in  Austria,  and  the  Austrians  will  cease 
fighting.  When  you  hear  that  the  Workmen's,  Soldiers', 
Peasants'  Soviet  is  in  command  in  Berlin,  remember 
that  the  little  man  in  the  Kremlin  told  you  that  a 
proletarian  World  Revolution  was  born." 

I  began  writing  this  book  when  the  Bolshevist  hopes 
for  the  World  Revolution  ran  high,  and  when  they  still 
expected  the  Berlin  Soviet  to  appear  very  soon,  as  a 
result  of  their  military  and  propagandist  offensive  on 
the  Western  frontier  of  Russia.  When  I  am  finishing 
the  book  things  have  very  much  changed.  Out  of  the 
two  prophecies  of  Mr.  Lenin  one  is  not  materialized  : 
there  is  no  revolution  and  no  Soviet  in  Berlin.  On 
the  contrary,  the  other  prophecy,  about  the  probable 

205 


296    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

failure  of  the  Russian  Revolution,  is  now  being  proved 
true  by  everything  we  learn  from  within  Bolshevist 
Russia,  whatever  be  the  result  of  the  military  pressure 
from  outside.  As  the  Bolshevist  monomaniacs,  in 
spite  of  all,  still  stick  to  their  idea  of  the  World  Revo- 
lution, they  are  now  busy  preparing  for  another  stage 
of  it,  which  is  rather  defensive  than  offensive.  It  is 
the  retreat  to  the  East,  no  matter  which,  Turkestan 
or  China.  These  countries  are  still  less  "  developed 
in  the  capitalistic  stage  "  and  still  more  "  primitive." 
But,  obviously,  "  primitiveness "  is  the  necessary 
condition  for  the  success,  at  any  rate  temporary,  of 
a  "  Communist  "  revolution  and  of  a  tyrannical  rule 
by  the  minority  of  a  minority. 

Mr.  Lenin,  of  course,  is  too  clever  not  to  know  that 
this  kind  of  revolution  cannot  possibly  evolve  into 
anything  like  a  "  socialist  state." 

But  what  about  this  alternative,  for  the  sake  of 
which  all  these  experiments  in  anima  vili  are  being 
tried  :  the  breaking  out  of  the  flame  of  the  "  Com- 
munist "  Revolution  in  Europe  and  in  the  New  World  ? 

While  I  was  writing  on  the  international  danger  of 
Bolshevism,  this  danger  was  gradually  decreasing. 
Does  that  mean  that  all  danger  is  now  over  ? 

The  abstract  of  facts  which  are  here  collected  is 
enough  to  show  that  this  is  far  from  being  the  case. 
To  be  sure,  the  abnormal  conditions  created  by  the 
World  War  and  the  world's  exhaustion,  by  the 
economic  and  financial  crisis,  will  be  passing  away, 
rather  sooner  than  later.  With  their  disappearance, 
momentary  causes — which  were  breeding  unrest  and 
favouring  turbulent  and  anti-social  elements  of  the 
community — will  also  cease  to  work.  No  "  proletarian 


CONCLUSION  297 

dictatorship "  is  likely  to  develop  anywhere  under 
these  changing  conditions.  But  to  bring  about  this 
satisfactory  result,  a  mere  "  wait-and-see  "  policy  is 
not  sufficient.  If  even  Bolshevism  is  really  passing 
away — as'  it  may — one  has  got  to  take  stock  of  the 
rather  rich  inheritance  of  the  Bolshevist  ideas  and 
catchwords  spread  all  over  the  world  by  the  pro- 
Bolshevist  propaganda,  and  to  oppose  to  it  new 
educational  activities  or  legal  action. 

The  "  Hands  Off  Russia  "  slogan  is  the  most  typical 
part  of  this  inheritance.  Shall  one  leave  "  the  fire  to 
burn  out  "  by  itself  in  that  very  "  hearth  "  of  the 
world's  conflagration,  in  Bolshevist  Russia  ?  The 
advice  seems  to  find  sympathetic  reception  in  this 
country.  Everybody  agrees  that  without  pacified 
Russia  there  can  be  no  peace  in  the  world  and  no 
League  of  Nations.  But  in  flagrant  contradiction 
with  this  obvious  truth,  very  prominent  people  go  on 
saying  that  the  best  method  of  bringing  peace  to  Russia 
consists  in  letting  her  "  stew  in  her  own  juice."  Mr. 
Lloyd  George  even  succeeded  in  connecting  that  laissez 
faire  policy  with  the  national  interest  of  Great  Britain 
— as  Beaconsfield  understood  it. 

A  future  historian  will  be  much  amused  on  this 
occasion  to  verify  the  common  saying  that  "  the  wish 
is  the  father  of  thought."  Every  kind  of  argument 
was  used  to  prove  what  war-wearied  people  desired 
to  believe,  and  nobody  seemed  to  mind  the  otherwise 
obvious  inconsistency  and  fallacy  of  argumentation. 
It  is  not  my  purpose  here  to  discuss  it.  But  this  book 
may  help  some  future  analyst  to  inquire  into  the  origin 
of  common  error.  It  is  important  to  state  that  this 
origin,  without  people  always  knowing  it,  is  the 


298    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

Bolshevist  propaganda.  There  exists  no  other  way  but 
this  to  trace  common  blunders  in  framing  the  "  Russian 
policy  "  to  its  origin,  and  even  to  understand  at  all 
the  real  meaning  of  these  obvious  blunders.  The  only 
possible  sense  of  the  "  non-intervention  "  policy  was- 
and  still  is  that  which  pro-Bolshevist  extremists  of  all 
countries  imply  in  it,  namely,  to  save  "  the  Russian 
(Communist)  Revolution  and  the  Soviet  Republics." 
Only  such  people  may  claim  to  be  consistent  in  urging 
that  policy,  as  realize  that  this  and.  nothing  else  is  its 
real  aim  and  its  possible  result. 

However  weakened  the  international  danger  of 
Bolshevism  may  be,  the  practical  interest  of  this  book 
will  still  consist  in  stating,  in  an  objective  way,  the 
component  elements  of  the  pro-Bolshevist  political- 
psychology.  Bolshevism  may — or  may  not — be  stifled 
for  the  moment.  It  will  hardly  disappear  at  all.  To 
recollect  and  to  keep  present  in  mind  its  origin  and  its- 
development  means  to  be  able  to  recognize  it  at  its 
single  symptoms,  and  thus  to  prevent  its  resurrection 


EPILOGUE 

A  NEW  chapter  seems  to  be  opening  in  the  history  of 
revolutionary  Internationalism.  When  I  was  finish- 
ing the  book,  in  November  1919,  the  prospects  of 
Bolshevism  were  rather  gloomy.  Moscow,  the  centre 
and  the  source  of  the  world  propaganda,  was  within 
the  reach  of  Denikin's  armies.  The  United  States  has 
decided  to  break  with  the  policy  of  toleration  towards 
the  criminal  propaganda  of  open  revolt  against  the 
State  and  its  institutions.  Attempts  at  open  Bolshevist 
demonstrations  on  an  international  scale  had  failed, 
and  the  very  intractability  of  revolutionary  Extremism 
seemed  to  alienate  the  sympathies  of  labouring  masses. 
General  Elections  in  France  had  shown  that  these 
masses  did  not  lack  the  sense  of  patriotism  and  solidarity 
roused  by  the  great  exertion  of  the  War. 

Since  then  a  change  has  come  owing  to  two  principal 
events  :  One  is  the  military  defeat  of  the  centres  of 
Russian  national  resistance  to  Bolshevism  ;  another  is 
the  triumph  of  the  "  Hands-off-Russia  "  policy,  preached 
by  the  Bolshevist  supporters  and  now  accepted  by  the 
Allied  Governments,  especially  by  that  in  this  country. 
Both  events  are  closely  interwoven.  The  result  of  both 
now  is  that  a  new  wave  of  Bolshevism  is  rising  and 
sweeping  over  Europe.  The  visible  sign  of  the  growing 
tide  is  the  progress  in  Europe  of  the  Third  International, 
the  Bolshevist  chief  engine  of  propaganda. 

Says  Mr.  Lincoln  Eyre,  a  special  correspondent  of  the 


300    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

New  York  World,  in  his  recent  article  (see  the  Daily  News, 
February  26th) :  "  In  the  seven  weeks  I  spent  in  Moscow 
three  (Communist)  delegates  arrived  from  the  United 
States,  and  literally  scores  from  Germany,  Hungary, 
Austria,  Switzerland,  Scandinavia,  Rumania,  Bulgaria, 
Italy,  China,  Japan,  Corea,  India,  Afghanistan  and  the 
countries  of  Asia  Minor.  The  only  important  states 
from  which  few  Communistic  envoys  come  are  Great 
Britain  and  France.  Practically  all  these  missionaries 
are  obliged  to  travel  illegally,  i.e.  with  false  passports 
or  without  any.  They  slip  across  the  fighting  front  that 
encircles  the  Soviet  Republic  in  most  astonishing  ways, 
risking  death  from  all  forms  of  hardship  to  reach  Moscow. 
The  one-time  seat  of  Moscovy's  Emperors  has  become 
to  Communists  of  the  world  over  what  Mecca  is  to  the 
Mohammedan  pilgrims." 

Nowadays,  thanks  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George's  policy 
adopted  by  the  Allies,  communication  with  the  Com- 
munist Mecca  has  become  much  more  comfortable. 
The  "  ring  of  fire  "  or  "  barbed  wire  "  no  longer  exists. 
Newspapers  are  full  of  correspondents'  articles  from  Red 
Russia,  singing  the  praises  of  Lenin,  Trotsky  and  Zino- 
viev.  The  Bolshevist  prison  has  taught  even  Mr. 
Keeling  to  appreciate  the  power  of  Communism,  and — 
if  we  are  to  believe  Mr.  Lansbury — he  has  made  amends. 
Before  this  book  is  published  swarms  of  propagandists 
from  Bolshevist  Russia,  disguised  as  negotiators,  co- 
operators  or  traders,  are  likely  to  invade  Europe. 

No  wonder  European  Bolshevists  also  have  grown 
self-confident.  They  wear  no  disguise  in  preaching  their 
Bible.  The  Third  International  has  held  its  new  con- 
ference in  Amsterdam,  in  the  beginning  of  February. 
It  was  decided  that  "  a  revolutionary  action  of  the 


EPILOGUE  301 

workers,  to  force  international  capital  to  make  peace 
with  Russia,  is  a  necessary  condition  to  save  Soviet 
Russia,  and  to  hasten  the  World  Revolution.  To 
further  this  action,  the  Communists  of  all  countries 
must  utilize  every  strike  movement,  every  mass  demon- 
stration (i)  to  place  this  aspect  of  their  responsibility 
to  the  Russian  Revolution  before  the  workers,  (2)  to 
convince  them  that  their  interests  are  identical  with 
those  of  Soviet  Russia,  (3)  to  develop  a  strong  feeling 
of  revolutionary  solidarity  and  revolutionary  action  all 
the  world  over."  The  resolution  finishes  with  a  confi- 
dent forecast  and  a  corresponding  directive.  "  When 
the  Revolution  again  arises  in  Germany  or  in  any  other 
country,  the  forces  of  international  proletariat  (especi- 
ally the  transport  workers  in  Britain,  America,  France, 
Italy,  Scandinavia,  Holland  and  Switzerland)  must  be 
prepared  for  a  general  strike  the  moment  the  capitalist 
Powers  attempt  intervention.  The  bureau  is  to  take 
immediate  steps  to  prevent  the  workers  from  being 
again  forestalled  by  the  Governments."  (See  The 
Workers'  Dreadnought,  February  28th.) 

In  order  to  achieve  this  the  Third  International  is  at 
pains  to  keep  clear  from  every  compromise  with  the 
"  reformists  "  or  even  with  the  "  centrists."  What 
are  the  latter  doing  ?  Well,  as  usual  they  are  busy 
negotiating  with  the  Extremists  to  preserve  the  "  unity  " 
of  the  Party.  The  difference  is  only  that  Longuet  is 
now  playing  as  regards  Lenin  the  part  which  Renaudel 
had  been  playing  in  regard  to  Longuet.  Thus  in  the 
process  of  drifting  to  the  Left  a  new  stage  is  being 
reached,  which  is  very  vividly  reflected  in  the  discussions 
of  the  national  congress  in  Strassburg  at  the  end  of 
February.  The  resolution  to  leave  the  Second  Inter- 


302    BOLSHEVISM:  AN  INTERNATIONAL  DANGER 

national,    which    does    "  no    more    correspond    to    the 
revolutionary  situation,"  was  passed  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  4,330  votes  against  337.     It  is  true  that 
the  proposal  directly  to  adhere  to  the  Third  International 
of  Moscow  was  also  defeated  (by  2,999  against  a  strong 
minority  of  1,621),  but  it  was  chiefly  because  in  any 
case  Longuet's  new  "centre  "  could  not  count  on  the 
unconditional  acceptance  by  the  Third  International, 
for  which  it  is  already  too  moderate.     Longuet's  majority 
still  wants  to  preserve  the  contact  with  "  the  existing 
organizations  of  the  working  masses,  such  as  syndicates 
and    co-operatives,"    while    the    Extremist    "  advance 
guard  "  of  the  proletariat  wishes  to  detach   themselves 
from  the  masses  in  order  to  develop  the  full  speed  of 
revolutionary  action.     The  Strassburg  resolutions  might 
denounce    every    compromise    with    bourgeois    power. 
They  might  proclaim  themselves  for  pure  class  war, 
approve  of  all  "  fundamental  resolutions  "  of  the  Third 
International  of  Moscow  and  admit  the  form  of  "  Soviets  " 
as  "  one  of  the  forms  suitable  to  exercise  the  proletarian 
power."     Nothing  short  of  an  unconditional  surrender 
to  the  Extremists  is  acceptable  to  the  partisans  of  the 
Third  International.     It  is  doubtful  whether  they  will 
condescend  to  discuss  a  larger  form  of  organization  with 
the  more  advanced  elements  of  the  Second  International; 
they  want  to  keep  clear  of  them.     From  this  point  of 
view  the  attitude  of  the  German  Independents  is  very 
symptomatic.      In    December    1919,    they   decided    to 
negotiate   with   revolutionary   elements   in   Europe   in 
order  to  present  themselves  as  a  bloc  at  the  conference 
of  the  Third  International.     But  if  the  bloc  cannot  be 
formed,  they  have  decided  in  any  case  to  join  the  Third 
International,   like    the    Italian,    Serbian,    Norwegian, 


EPILOGUE  303 

Rumanian  Socialist  parties  and  fractions  of  parties  in 
Sweden,  Denmark,  Germany,  Bulgaria,  Hungary,  United 
States  and  Great  Britain. 

I  cannot  dwell  on  the  numerous  symptoms  of  a  new 
Extremist  offensive  in  all  these  countries.1     The  vote 
of  the  Special  Trade  Union  Congress  in  London  on  March 
nth  has  just  shown  that  this  offensive  does  not  always 
succeed  and  that  the  working  masses  are  still  against 
the  Extremists.     "  Direct  action  "  was  rejected  by  a 
huge   majority   of   3,732,000   against   1,015,000.      But 
here,  as  in  Strassburg,  even  in  defeat  Extremism  has 
advanced  another  step.     I  am  still  optimistic,  so  far  as 
the  decreasing  influence  of  post-war  phenomena  is  con- 
cerned.    But,  on  the  other  hand,  one  cannot  ignore  the 
increasing  influence  of  the  Russian  Soviet  Republic  on 
the  World  Propaganda  of  Bolshevism.    Hitherto  one  has 
had  to  confess  that  Lenin's  disciples  are  the  only  politi- 
cians who  know  what  they  want  and  who  act  in  accord- 
ance.   They  meet  with  half-hearted  and  disunited  opposi- 
tion,  voluntarily  ignorant  of  their  far-reaching  aims, 
unmindful  of  the  future,  and  concerned  exclusively  with 
small  gains  in  the  everyday  struggle,  with  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  own  momentary  power  or  popularity,  or 
even  with  realizing  the  doubtful  and  illusory  benefits 
which  the  Soviet  power  is  clever  enough  to  dangle  before 
the  "  greedy  capitalists." 

1  The  last  and  the  most  important  one,  as  this  book  goes  to  press 
(March  igth),  is  an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  a  military  counter-revolu- 
tion in  Berlin.  Far  from  preventing  the  Bolshevist  "  danger  from 
the  East,"  its  result  was  to  set  free  the  forces  of  Spartacism. 
Roughly  speaking,  the  German  Kornilov  and  the  German  Kerensky 
both  repeated  the  mistakes  of  their  Russian  predecessors  ;  the  former 
by  trying  a  desperate  stroke  to  give  Germany  a  strong  Government, 
the  latter  by  refusing  to  come  to  terms  with  patriotic  rebels.  In 
Germany,  as  well  as  in  Russia,  the  result  is  the  same  :  the  door  open 
to  the  common  enemy — Bolshevism. 


PRINTED  Hi  CHEAT  BRITAIX 
BY  UNWIN  BROTHERS,  LIMITED 
PRINTERS,  WOKING  AND  LONDON 


i  IT  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  047  678     8 


